(Quebec) The College of Physicians calls on Quebec to expand access to medical assistance in dying for people with severe disabilities, rather than just people with severe and incurable “neuromotor” disabilities.
The deputies begin Tuesday in Parliament the specific consultations of Bill 11, tabled earlier this winter by the Minister for Health and Seniors, Sonia Bélanger.
This bill, which takes up the main orientations of Bill 38, which died on the order paper before the call of the last election, has the effect of extending medical aid in dying to people suffering from serious and incurable illnesses, such as alzheimer’s, and to those who have a serious and incurable neuromotor handicap. This second point is controversial.
In the afternoon, Tuesday, the College of Physicians will ask Quebec not to limit access to medical assistance in dying only to people suffering from a serious and incurable neuromotor disability. “The College wishes that all people with severe disabilities, in an incurable condition, afflicted with unrelievable suffering and meeting the established criteria, can have access to medical assistance in dying,” says the College.
“The Criminal Code and the guidelines established by the Supreme Court in the Carter decision in 2015, which guide medical assistance in dying across Canada, in no way qualify the notion of disability. There are indeed serious handicaps from birth, which are not necessarily neuromotor. The [College of Physicians] therefore requests the withdrawal of this qualifier. Quebec law must fairly grant access to this care to Quebecers, not restrict it. Medically, this situation is unacceptable,” he added.
In a press scrum on Tuesday, Minister Sonia Bélanger reiterated that it is important for her to “clarify the notion of disability” in the proposed expansion of medical assistance in dying.
“That’s why it’s specified in neuromotor disability. The concept of disability is an extremely broad concept. We can talk about visual handicap, auditory handicap, sensory handicap, motor handicap. You see what we’re navigating through. So, we arrive in a very complex concept, I think it is extremely important that we can bring the nuances and mark out, as a precautionary principle, “she said.
Bill 11 also does not expand access to medical assistance in dying for people who suffer from a mental disorder. The special and cross-partisan commission, which tabled its report in December 2021, and whose bill is largely inspired, nevertheless recommended it. “There is no consensus in Quebec on mental disorder,” said Ms. Bélanger.
