I don't know that Carter used the words “contemporaneous consent”; the consent has to be clear.
If you have a clear and detailed advance directive about a future state that you know would be unacceptable to you when you consider that future state, would cause you intolerable pain, it's like the option of time shifting forward. That's what I'm talking about.
By not allowing advance consent, you're shutting the door to the possibility of somebody who would suffer terribly knowing they were in that state, but you're not allowing them the option of assistance to die. You're shutting the door entirely to them. I'm saying leave that door open for them.
Advance directives as they're administered in the provinces and territories right now are a bit of a mess. They're all different. Some are legally binding and some are not.
I see a fairly straightforward national form specifically for people who in advance imagine a state that is unacceptable to them. All the other criteria would have to be met, but their description of the state that would be unacceptable to them would have to be clearly described in that advance directive. I would want that advance directive to survive the person's lapse into an incapacitated state in which they can no longer make an informed decision.
I do not believe that many people would change their mind when they imagine themselves in a vegetative state, in a fetal position, having to be spoon-fed, with somebody cleaning their poopy diapers every day. To some that lack of quality of life would be intolerable. I don't want the law to prevent that.