My apologies to the translators.
Our current law, as amended by Bill C-14, is already interpreted to allow doctors to euthanize patients who have a decade or more of life ahead. Our current law already fails to prevent doctors from suggesting MAID without being asked, or at least listing it as an option, which can send a powerful message to the sick and disabled that someone thinks their life isn't worth living.
Bill C-7 not only fails to address those problems, as identified by the United Nations special rapporteur, among others, but it makes them worse. If Bill C-7 passes, it will be possible for a person with a serious illness to go to their doctor's office, have their doctor suggest MAID as an option for them, have the doctor's secretary pop in to witness a written request and then be killed as soon as the second opinion is acquired. Of course the doctor would have to mention other options, but that's just the basic rule of informed consent.
That's the fast and easy track. The slow track isn't much better. For those in the ambiguous category of not reasonably foreseeable death, Bill C-7 says that other options should be discussed and consultations offered, which isn't much, and one would think that such basic steps should already be there for the fast-track cases.
As for the 90-day waiting period, palliative care physicians have already pointed out that it's inadequate because it often takes longer to help people manage their symptoms and to find satisfactory treatments, and so on. We share that concern. We would also point out that the 90-day waiting period is itself ambiguous given that it begins, not on the day a written request is signed and dated, as with the 10-day waiting period that would be cut, but on the day the doctor begins to assess a patient's eligibility, which could be months earlier.
Many people seem to think further expansion of euthanasia is inevitable. This is not true. The Carter decision was very limited in scope, as the court stated at the beginning and end of its decision. This is about Ms. Taylor and persons in her position. She was near death with a known fatal illness and the court said, “We make no pronouncement on other situations where physician-assisted dying may be sought”, at the end of its judgment. It bookended its judgment with those things.
The lone judge who decided Truchon failed to appreciate this and failed to recognize Parliament's objectives in limiting MAID to the end-of-life context. It is the responsibility of Parliament and this committee to listen to the concerns of all parties, including disability rights advocates, palliative care physicians and others; to be clear about its objectives; to defend them against a particular judge; and to enact more responsible policies.
Thank you very much.