Madam Speaker, the nature of autonomy is that people change their minds. They might think that some future circumstance is intolerable to them. Then, under those circumstances, they have a different experience or an adaptation to those circumstances that they were not expecting. This is why, generally speaking, we do not allow our present selves to bind our future selves.
As it relates to MAID specifically, the latest numbers show 692 people in 2024 made requests for MAID and then changed their minds. Obviously, there are going to be a lot of people who are thinking about this, so they make the request and then decide not to do it. However, with the advance directives framework in this bill, a person would be killed based on a previous expression of their desires without even being asked in the moment. This is clear in the legislation. There is no requirement that the person be told what is about to happen to them before it happens.
What does the member think this would mean for the 692 people who thought they wanted MAID and decided they did not? Would those people be alive today under this framework?