The first doctor-assisted death has been performed in Canada. The euthanasia was performed on Jan. 15, 2016, in Quebec, just one month after a law legalizing the procedure came into effect in the province.
The patient, whose condition was not disclosed, died by lethal injection. A second request for doctor-assisted death has been confirmed in the Montreal region. Other requests may be pending, but officials are not obligated to report them.
Authorities say that data for doctor-assisted death will be kept confidential at this time. Those who are most likely candidates for the procedure are terminally-ill cancer patients. The law supporting death-with-dignity took effect in Quebec on Dec. 10, 2015. Any adult patient with an incurable disease who is suffering constant pain has the legal right to ask for medical aid in dying. Patients seeking assisted death must meet the criteria and be approved by a team of health professionals. The law states that the doctor that is asked to provide the assisted death must receive confirmation from another doctor that the law is being respected.
A lawyer representing the federal government is seeking more time to respond to the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on this law. In December 2015, the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned the Quebec Superior Court ruling that aimed to suspend the doctor-assisted death law until certain amendments were made to the Criminal Code. The court ruled that Quebec’s dying-with-dignity law would remain in effect.
On the same day that the doctor-assisted death was performed, Canada’s Supreme Court granted a four-month extension on the new Liberal government’s provision of an assisted death legislation. If a new law is not crafted, the court’s decision will take over, which serves that only a “competent adult” can provide consent for doctor-assisted death.