Law 2 | An association fears the impact on anticipated requests for medical assistance in dying

“Several doctors who provide medical assistance in dying are worried. Those who would have liked to get involved will put it aside because it takes time. It’s long. We can’t do that in 15 minutes, it’s as simple as that,” says the president of the AQDMD, Dr.^r Georges L’Espérance, in interview with La Presse Canadienne.

He denounces Law 2 of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, adopted under gag order on Saturday morning. “We want to validate the performance of doctors based on the volume of patients they see, which is completely absurd,” he says.

The D^r L’Espérance adds that it regularly receives calls from patients who are unable to find a doctor or nurse to assist them in their efforts due to the time required to do so.

For the past year, people suffering from a serious and incurable illness, such as Alzheimer’s, for example, have been able to make an advance request to receive MAID when they are no longer able to consent.

As of October 16, 1,676 advance requests for MAID were submitted and 1,511 were ultimately accepted.

In its press release, the AQDMD states that the form for making an advance request is “complex for patients” and that “the process is demanding and extremely time-consuming for health professionals, which limits access to the right, particularly in certain regions”.

The AQDMD also criticizes the “lack of enforceability” of advance requests for marketing authorization.

“Achieving the clinical manifestations indicated in the form is not enough to demonstrate intolerable suffering, an essential condition for the administration of MAID. The evaluators must consider that the patient is really suffering, without the patient being able to express himself on this point. However, the AQDMD reminds that in unfit people suffering from dementia, it is possible that suffering exists without being perceived, which complicates their assessment,” we explain in the association’s press release.

Remember that after adopting its bill to authorize advance requests for MAID, the Quebec government urged the federal government to modify the Criminal Code to prevent health professionals who administer it from committing a criminal offense.

However, Quebec finally decided to move forward without waiting for Ottawa to act.

“We have given direction to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions aimed at protecting doctors and specialist nurse practitioners (IPS) from possible prosecution. Quebec is still a leader in this area by taking the necessary means to enforce the right of patients to die with dignity,” indicated the office of the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, in a written statement sent to The Canadian Press on Wednesday.

For its part, the AQDMD still wants the federal government to modify the Criminal Code so that advance requests can be practiced in all Canadian provinces.

“There are still doctors and IPS who may be fearful because of the question of possible prosecution,” adds the D^r Hope.