With all due respect to Mr. Fraser, I don't know how many people you've been with as they're dying, or how many cases you've known. In my case, I know that my own father was incapable of forming anything like consent for a year and a half before his death. There are many people who would say, “I don't care what kind of condition I have deteriorated to. I don't care how lost my personality is to me, how lost my ability to form words is, or how lost my ability is to make eye contact due to my grievous and irremediable condition. That's not my concern. I want to stay with it as long as long as I possibly can draw breath of life.” Others would say that the Carter decision is clear, that it is a violation of my rights under the charter to be denied the opportunity to have a medically assisted death that does not force me to take my life prematurely, so I avoid a year and a half of grievous and irremediable deteriorating condition in which the ability to form legal consent is no longer possible.
I submit to you, with all respect, that 10 clear days of reflection is an irrelevant concern to people who has lost the ability to either reflect or form consent far more than 10 days before their deaths.