Thank you.
It seems to me that this is actually a very important amendment. We shouldn't get wrapped up in trying to keep the bill exactly as written if these amendments being put forward actually improve it.
We heard testimony from doctors—I heard it very clearly—saying that this is very problematic. A general comment on reasonably foreseeable or not reasonably foreseeable.... What does that mean?
This isn't just like any other type of medical care. We're really not talking about a therapeutic option here. That's what the doctors told us.
I'm mindful, Madam Chair, that I heard our colleague Mr. Virani say something to the effect that perhaps the mover is married to the Quebec model. I'm from B.C., so I don't exactly know what that Quebec model is, to be honest. We heard from doctors across Canada—not just from doctors from Quebec—who were very concerned about the lack of clarity in the bill around this particular issue. I would like to think that as we sit here debating end of life, we are also thinking about the life one lives up to that moment and the right of access to meaningful care, which is interwoven in a lot of these amendments being put forward.
Doctors make these decisions all the time. Just to be personal for a moment, my brother died of cancer at 48. When we went to the doctor, they told us he had 30 to 90 days and he should put his affairs in order. He lived 58 days. I think the doctors have a very good idea when they're dealing with their patients and what that patient is looking at in terms of time and in terms of what can be offered or not. That is all part of those very sensitive discussions with somebody as to the intolerability of their situation or the end of life—how soon or not it may be.
My take on the testimony that we heard is that the doctors—the medical professionals—were saying that we are introducing something here that speaks to them about how they carry out their health care decisions and health care options, but we're not giving them the parameters that would help them, either. It seems to me that it's not really just an arbitrary number. It's an amount of time that seems reasonable, where it allows a revisiting and a review with that patient. It isn't speaking to the 90 days that is in the bill now. It doesn't take away from that in any way. It does give those health care professionals who are dealing with their patients some sort of parameter and something to hold on to.
In that respect, I thank Monsieur Thériault for bringing forward something that I think is needed and that the health care professionals are asking us for. We shouldn't abandon the field in that respect. We should give them something they can work with and that is in itself reasonable and not unduly restrictive.
I would be supporting the amendment.
Thank you.