My name is Maureen Klenk and I represent the Canadian Association of Advanced Practice Nurses. I am proud to be a nurse practitioner. I believe I may be the only nurse practitioner who will be presenting to you.
I would like to forward three concerns.
First, although Bill C-14 uses legal language, its primary purpose is to provide Canadians and health care providers with protection and accessibility for medical-assisted dying. Counselling is an everyday activity within every patient exchange. There will be much counselling between the time when a patient requests medical-assisted dying and the provider actually writing the prescription. Therefore, we believe the exemption for medical assistance in dying must include both clauses (a) and (b).
Second, an age restriction and requirement is discriminatory. A 16-year-old with a brain tumour will suffer as much as a 36-year-old, and their prognosis is the same. Yet, we do accept as lawful a 16-year-old signing a surgical consent for his two-year-old daughter.
Third, the terms serious and incurable are not medical terminology and provide the practitioner with no descriptive value.
Also, what is a natural death for a 60-year-old who has ALS? He's not going to die from natural causes. His death is going to occur from the horrible complications of ALS. When would a health care professional know that this 60-year-old's death was reasonable and foreseeable? We believe this is not a measurable term in any context.
CAAPN recommends the removal of clauses (a) and (d) from 241.2(2).
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this important process.