HOW Bill C-7 EXPANDS THE EUTHANASIA LAW IN CANADA.

Bill C-7 removes the requirement in the law that a person’s natural death be
reasonably foreseeable to qualify for Medical Assisted In Dying (MAiD). People
who are not terminally ill can be killed by MAiD. The Quebec Truchon court decision,
that led to Bill C-7 only required this amendment to the law, but Bill C-7 goes
further. Bill C-7:

1. permits a doctor or nurse practitioner to lethally inject a person who is
not capable of consenting, if that person was previously approved for MAiD.
This contravenes the Supreme Court of Canada Carter decision which stated that
only competent people could die by euthanasia.

2. waives the ten-day waiting period when a person is deemed to be “terminally ill.”
A person could request death by euthanasia on a “bad day” and die the same day.
Studies prove that the “will to live” fluctuates.

3. creates a two track law. A person who is deemed to be terminally ill would
have no waiting period while a person who is not terminally ill will have a 90
day waiting period before being killed by lethal injection.

If Bill C-7 is passed, a future court decision will strike down the 90 day
waiting period for people whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable
because, this provision represents an inequality in the law.

4. reduces the number of independent witness from two to one.

5. falsely claims to prevent euthanasia for people with mental illness. The
law permits MAiD for people who are physically or psychologically suffering
in a manner that is intolerable to the person and that cannot be relieved
in a way that the person considers acceptable.

However mental illness is considered a form of psychological suffering, which
is not defined in the bill. If the government wants to exclude euthanasia for
mental illness the bill would need to define psychological suffering to exclude
mental illness.

Bill C-7 permits anyone who believes that their physical or psychological suffering
is intolerable to die by lethal injection, even if effective medical treatments
for their condition exists, after a 90 day reflection period. (Link to Bill C-7).

Adapted Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

20/11/2020

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Tags: Euthanasia, Quebec Truchon court decision