Thank you so much, Madam Joint Chair.
Professor Chandler, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for appearing before our committee.
My question deals with treatments and a person's capacity to accept those treatments. The Criminal Code does make mention of an intolerable condition, suffering that cannot be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable. I was hoping maybe you could inform the committee, or just walk us through the existing law and how it interprets this.
We're dealing with hypotheticals here. What if we had a hypothetical situation in which a physician knew of a treatment that might be beneficial to a patient who was suffering from a mental disorder and they had knowledge that the patient had applied for medical assistance in dying? How does the law work through that thorny issue of a patient perhaps feeling that a treatment is unacceptable and having made an application for medical assistance in dying?
I think these are some of the hypothetical and thorny issues that many committee members and indeed some of our witnesses have been struggling with. I'd appreciate any thoughts you could offer on those.