We've passed a robust definition of “grievous and irremediable”. There are significant steps that an individual must prove before they're able to access medical assistance in dying. We've heard from witnesses that this isn't a decision that people come to lightly, that it's something they've agonized over, potentially for months, whether it's something they wish to take advantage of. If they have an incurable illness, if they are in an advanced state of irreversible decline and is enduring suffering and their death is reasonably foreseeable, why are we requiring them to wait over two weeks to access this treatment? In my mind that's cruel. I believe there are valid public policy reasons to have a waiting period, but the longer the waiting period, the less likely we are to treat people like adults. I believe seven days is a more reasonable number to allow people to change their mind and in an extreme situation allow an application to be delivered to a court, while still providing all the safeguards while reducing the period of suffering an individual must endure.
On May 10th, 2016. See this statement in context.