As expected before February 26, Bill C-7 is discussed by the Canadian Senate. It voted to send the bill back to the House of Commons with five careful and thoughtful amendments. The proposed amendments are the following:
- Include an 18-month sunset clause on the Bill’s explicit prohibition on medical assistance in dying (MAID) for those with a mental illness;
- Clarify that the mental illness exclusion does not apply to those with neurocognitive disorders (Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s);
- Allow for advance requests and extend the waiver of final consent to those whose death is not reasonably foreseeable;
- Require collection of race-based data for all people who request and receive MAID; and,
- Call for a comprehensive review of the provisions of the Criminal Code relating to MAID and their applications.
Dying With Dignity Canada is supportive of the amendments, which reflect many of their previously communicated positions.
Canada