OTTAWA — The federal government has introduced a long-awaited and controversial new law spelling out the conditions in which seriously ill or dying Canadians may seek medical help to end their lives.
The legislation says there should be a choice of medically assisted death "for adults who are suffering intolerably and for whom death is reasonably foreseeable."
That's more restrictive than conditions recommended by the special joint parliamentary committee which had been studying the issue.
That committee had urged the government to minimize the obstacles in front of Canadians who want a doctor's help to end their suffering.
The bill says those eligible to seek that help must be mentally competent, 18 or older, have a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability and be in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability.
And it says that while death would have to be foreseen, there would not have to be a specific prognosis or timeline associated with when that might occur.
The legislation is the long-awaited response to the Supreme Court's ruling last year that the prohibition on doctor assisted suicide violates the right to life, liberty and security of the person.
The court gave the federal government until Feb. 6, 2016 — later extended to June 6 — to come up with a new law that recognizes the right of clearly consenting adults who are enduring intolerable physical or mental suffering to seek medical help to end their lives.
Legal experts and others predict the new bill will inevitably be challenged, both by those who feel the law doesn't go far enough and those who feel it goes too far.
Consequently, some members of the special committee and some advocacy groups have called on the government to pre-emptively ask the Supreme Court whether the new law complies with the charter of rights — rather than forcing sick and dying individuals to launch their own court challenges.
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