The Canadian government has passed a bill to approving medically assisted death for people with a terminal illness.
The bill makes possible for Canadians suffering from incurable illnesses like cerebral palsy to seek medically assisted death.
Patty Hajdu, the health minister said the bill is to make Canadians self-reliant and protecting the vulnerable population.
The bill was introduced in parliament amidst cross-party support.
The legislation gained impetus the Quebec court decision 2019 that inscribed the patients to provide evidence that their death was “reasonably foreseeable” to get approval to end their life.
The injunction was an infringement on the “life, liberty and security of the person”, said Justice Christine Badouin while referring to the decision as unconstitutional.
She favored the plaintiffs, Jean Truchon 51, and Nicole Gladu 74, in the conspicuous case last year.
The defendants were suffering from terminative illness with their symptoms worsening over time, and loss of autonomy. They were facing ongoing and incurable suffering, Jean Menard, their lawyer postulated.
Both Mr. Truchon and Ms. Gladu seek medical assistance to end their life as one was suffering from cerebral palsy and the other had post-polio syndrome respectively.
Yet, the council of Canadians with disabilities argued in the law court that the injunction signified that “having a disability is a fate worse than death”.
They insisted the administration file a petition in the Quebec court regarding the decision, however, the government refused to do so.
The Liberal government of Prime Minister Trudeau presented a bill for assisted death. There will be a creation of the two-track mechanism. One track will be for terminated ill persons and one for those without illness.
Patients must prove that they are suffering “intolerable” illness.
The bill excludes mentally ill persons from the eligibility criteria.
To pass the bill, the minority government needs facilitation from other parties. Jagmeet Singh, the NDP leader has previously raised his support for extending assisted death.
In 2016, Canada became one of the few places in the world to legalize medically assisted death.
According to the statistics provided by the justice department, no less than 1300 citizens have been administered medically assisted death. Two-thirds of patients seeking medically assisted death were suffering from cancer, other than neurological conditions and cardiovascular illnesses.
In Canadian law, a person w9iht dementia is eligible for medically assisted death, except it is provided before they lost their ability to give consent legally.
This rule forced people to terminate their life well before time.–Worldwide News