QC moves to accept advance requests for MAID for Alzheimer’s patients
Djeneba Dosso
With notes from CHIP FM
Local Journalism Initiative
QUEBEC – The province has decided the time is now for allowing advance requests for medical assistance in dying (MAID) for patients facing degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. For the last two years, provinces have been calling on the federal government to change the Criminal Code to allow patients to make premature requests, to no avail.
Quebec adopted its own MAID laws in June 2016 and again in June 2023 to permit people with serious and incurable illnesses to request MAID while they have the capacity to provide consent. The province is now pushing for the Criminal Code to reflect these changes.
According to federal laws, patients must provide consent to MAID “immediately before” a healthcare worker administers a medically assisted death, giving them “an opportunity to withdraw their request and ensuring the person consents.” Providing said consent in writing, along with being at least 18 years old and experiencing “constant and unbearable physical or psychological pain” are all criteria patients must meet to be eligible.
Since 2016, Quebec has been working to ease these requirements to not only include patients who aren’t in constant pain but experiencing degenerative diseases, but also allowing them to make premature MAID requests to carry out the procedure before their condition worsens.
Major changes to Quebec’s MAID laws were adopted in June 2023. Patients no longer needed to be at their end of life to request MAID and it was ruled that people living with mental health illnesses such as severe depression wouldn’t be eligible. This law differed heavily from the Criminal Code which barred early MAID requests but ruled in favour of MAID for people with mental health issues, said Guy Morissette, MAID coordinator at Le Centre intégré de santé et services sociaux (CISSSO) de l’Outaouais.
“The rationale at this point is that society may not be ready to have a mental health condition as the main reason to be eligible for MAID,” he said in an interview with CHIP FM, stating the topic is heavily discussed in medical and professional fields but also in communities. “What people are saying is ‘we know access to mental health care in Quebec and Canada is difficult. If we’re not able to facilitate access to care, then we shouldn’t resort to MAID.”
Canada, despite being in favour of medically assisted deaths for people diagnosed with mental health illnesses, has pushed back the adoption of the law for two consecutive years with no due date in sight.
On the other hand, Quebec, which saw 300 MAID requests this year in the Outaouais alone and expects at least 100 more in 2024, is tired of waiting according to Léa Fortin, spokesperson for Seniors Minister Sonia Bélanger.
“We’ll be ready, and we’ll move forward,” she told the Canadian Press. “We want the federal government to change the Criminal Code, but if they don’t, we’re working on our options.”
When asked how the province intends to bypass the Criminal Code to grant early MAID requests, Morissette admitted many details are still up in the air and changes won’t be effective until June 2025, if not later.
“At this point it’s a bit difficult because it’s not all adopted to be able to access MAID, but we’re just going to conclude and adopt what needs to be adopted and in a few weeks it will be public and easier to explain,” she added.
The province is expected to release a statement providing details and updates to MAID laws in Quebec sometime in September, latest October.
