The Bloc Québécois wants the federal government to allow advance applications for medical assistance in dying (MAID) for people suffering from a cognitive neurodegenerative disorder such as Alzheimer’s. He plans to present a corresponding bill in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Quebec has already passed a law allowing people with serious degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s to apply for medical assistance in dying and to receive that treatment once their condition worsens. However, medical staff are still unable to ensure that the wishes of these patients are respected, as the Criminal Code does not allow medical assistance in dying to be granted to a person suffering from dementia who has previously made a request for this.

The aim of the bill is to allow MAID to be provided under a provincial arrangement which provides that a person suffering from an illness that results in incapacity to work may apply for and receive medical assistance in dying as soon as they do so becomes unable to work.

“We are putting forward a bill that would allow us to move forward, because the problem we have – and it is the College of Physicians that says this – is that even if the Quebec attorney general said, ‘” I won’t sue if.'” “If you proceed, the fact remains that doctors, families or anyone else could be the target of a private lawsuit,” the Bloc Québécois medical aid spokesman said in an interview.

He clarified that the bill seeks to expand MAID to the extent that a province or territory has a legal and regulatory framework in place. “At this point the criminal code would allow us to move forward,” he said.

According to Mr. Thériault, Quebec’s law is clear and precise and “is unlikely to cause confusion.” He believes it could become a model for other Canadian laws.

Quebec law regulates MAID requests based on informed consent. “Alzheimer’s is not something devastating, it is evolving, we are seeing impending degeneration. The ability to make decisions has been there for a long time,” says the MP for Montcalm.

If the bloc’s bill were passed, a Quebecer suffering from dementia would be able to give advance consent to MAID, provided they still have the ability to do so in an informed manner.

A joint special committee that examined the provisions of the MAID legislation submitted a report in 2023. He examined scenarios not covered by MAID and had to make a recommendation as to whether or not the AMM should be expanded to cover these cases.

Mr Thériault does not understand why the Liberals waited for the committee’s recommendation regarding people with mental illnesses, but that they did not address cognitive neurodegenerative diseases when the committee made a positive recommendation to advance inquiries on these diseases.

“It is one of the strongest recommendations, the largest majority, which has produced the largest consensus. The government has not complied with this recommendation and has been doing so for a while, more than a year,” he laments.

A petition that has so far garnered 2,826 signatures is calling on the citizens of Quebec on behalf of the Justice Minister to amend the Criminal Code so that Quebec can legally apply its advance requests law. The petition highlights that 83% of Canadians and 88% of Quebecers support advance requests.

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