I'm going to make a preliminary comment and then turn things over to Professor Lemmens for a brief comment concerning the situation in Belgium and the Netherlands, which represents the model that has just been recommended by Professor Downie. I will then speak to the draft legislation, which you have in the blue volume, which is tabbed. I hope you all have that available to you. I will very briefly highlight the differences between what Professor Downie has just indicated and what we would be recommending.
Let me say first of all that when we initially applied to appear before you, Mr. Gilbert Sharpe was one of the three who together made the application. He is not here. He is truly the father of law in medicine in this country. He has drafted most of the important health legislation in this country. He drafted the mental disorder sections in the Criminal Code, which in many ways are parallels to what we are talking about here, which is a carve-out from the Criminal Code. He has vast experience. He would have spoken to you about how the panel of review, the review board, would have meant that physicians, including family physicians, would not have disqualified themselves from the process for moral objections because they would not be making the decision. That is the objection that the physicians have taken not to filing reports, which is the function of physicians. There are at least 18 mandatory reporting functions from which there are no moral objections taken.
I'll turn it over to Professor Lemmens.