Amended Bill C-7 Increases The Ambit Of ‘Medically Assistance In Dying’ For Canadian Citizens

OVERVIEW

The Senate of Canada, on Wednesday, passed a bill pertaining to Euthanasia, also known as mercy killing. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes Euthanasia an act or practice of putting people suffering from painful and incurable disease or incapacitating physical disorder to painless deaths. It allows such people to die either by withholding treatment or by withdrawing other measures such as artificial life-support systems.

Euthanasia is described in the Canadian legal system as ‘medical assistance in dying” and has been legalised since 2016. The recent legislation aims at expanding the ambit of the access of its citizens with incurable medical issues or grave physical disorders. It no more requires such ailed person to be able to give their final consent immediately prior to conduct such procedure.

Such bill became a law on Wednesday, after receiving the royal assent. “The new law includes changes to eligibility, procedural safeguards, and the framework for the federal government’s data collection and reporting regime,”- the official website of the Government of Canada states.

BACKGROUND

The new legislation brought forth by Canada with regard to medical assistance in dying puts an end to the necessity of being a person’s death to be “reasonably foreseeable” in order to obtain such access. With the current legislation, the medically assisted dying care may be requested by those with such serious medical issues as long as they meet the prescribed safeguard requirements.

A minimum waiting period of 90 days calculated from the time such patient is first assessed for the care to the time when such procedure is to be actually carried out is one such noteworthy safeguard that is to be ascertained. The patient may also “at any time and in any manner, withdraw their request” for such care. 

Such care would not be accessible to any person whose lone medical condition is any mental illness, since such person might lack the clarity of thought and the consequences of such decision could be un-apprehendable to them.

FURTHER DETAILS

The Government of Canada had earlier rejected a Senate amendment which attempted to allow those people who are afraid of losing their mental competence in order to make advance requests for an assisted death which is permitted by law. Nonetheless, a joint parliamentary committee was to be presented with such amendment within 30 days so that the issue in hand and other unresolved matters could be reviewed. The validity of the consent of mature minors to receive such medically assisted dying care procedure also needed to be discussed.

Justice Minister David Lametti said, "The wait is nearly over for Canadians who are suffering intolerably and wish to seek MAID under new rules," in a tweet right after the Senate vote in this matter. "This law will respect the autonomy of Canadians while protecting the vulnerable."  

All of the 20 senators belonging to Conservative ideology voted against the bill. They believed such amendment would fundamentally oppose the established medically assisted dying regime, particularly to those with mental illnesses. 

Conservative Senate leader Don Plett requested his colleagues to reject such bill. He said in his speech to the Senate, "If there was ever a time to exercise sober second thought, it is now. It is not often that we can truly say that with this vote we have the opportunity to save lives, to prevent the unnecessary premature death of the vulnerable, to offer hope to those who have lost it. But today we do." 

CONCLUSION 

The newly amended bill is the a response to a decision held by the  Quebec court in September 2019, where Canada’s existing law on medically assisted death was held to be unconstitutional because it was restrictive in essence. Such revised bill C-7 was passed by a vote of 60-25. with five abstentions. The rejection of the Government pertaining to the amendments made by the Senate could not fully deter the passing of such bill.

Senator Stan Kutcher, who is not only a psychiatrist but also a member of the Independent Senators Group argued before the Senate before his vote that “all Canadians suffering from irremediable and grievous illnesses, physical or mental, deserve the right to make their own choice. It is not for us to decide if a person's suffering is intolerable to them." 

The amended bill poses relaxation of some of the rules for availing the procedure of a medically assisted death. The bill has been passed by the Senate in order to expand the access of the terminally ill or incapacitated citizens, including people suffering from mental illness to receive medical assistance in dying.

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION REGARDING SUCH PROCEDURE? DO YOU THINK THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE ONE’S DEATH DIMINISHES THEIR RIGHT TO LIFE? DO LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!