Tag: MAiD

Doctors, Hospices Grapple With New Quebec Law Forcing Palliative Facilities to Offer MAiD

Quebec physician Bruno Gagnon is feeling squeezed out of his decades-long palliative care career due to his moral objection to medical assistance in dying (MAiD). With years of experience and a faith-based passion for offering comfort to those living out their final days, Dr. Gagnon says he still has much to offer in the field…


Bioethicist Alarmed New MAID Guidance Could Encourage People to Die to Give Organs to Loved Ones

New policy guidelines for medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada suggest patients be allowed to donate their organs to loved ones, an incentive some MAID opponents say could encourage more people to end their lives who otherwise wouldn’t. Usually when organ donors die, the organs go to recipients most in need and the best…


Quebec Forces Palliative Care Homes to Offer Assisted Suicide

A new Quebec law that mandates palliative care facilities to provide medical assistance in dying has drawn criticism from euthanasia opponents and a palliative care advocate. Bill 11 to expand medical assistance in dying (MAiD) passed in Quebec’s national assembly on June 7.  In a June 5 post online, Living with Dignity (Vivre Dans La…


27 Federal Inmates Have Applied for Assisted Suicide Since 2016 Legalization, Say Feds

A total of 27 federal inmates in prisons across Canada have applied for medical assistance in dying (MAID) since it was first legalized by the Liberal government in 2016, says the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). Of those 27 offenders, nine have been authorized to receive MAID, says the CSC, which is the federal government agency responsible…


Veterans Affairs Canada Closes Investigation, Confirms Four Incidents Where MAiD ‘Inappropriately Discussed’

Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) has closed an investigation into allegations that veterans were offered assisted suicide, stating it found only four incidents where medical assistance in dying (MAiD) was “inappropriately discussed,” according to a report. “VAC has concluded these were four incidents completely isolated to a single employee” and that “this is not a widespread,…


Tory MP to Table Bill That Would Repeal Assisted Suicide Extension for the Mentally Ill

Conservative MP Ed Fast says he will be introducing a private member’s bill that seeks to repeal the planned extension of Canada’s medically assisted suicide laws to include individuals whose sole medical condition is mental illness. Fast made the announcement in Ottawa on March 6 during a press conference in which he was joined by…


Opponents of Assisted Suicide Express Alarm at Committee Report Recommending MAID for ‘Mature Minors’

Opponents of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) expansion are expressing alarm about a new report on MAID with 23 recommendations, including one that the federal government offer assisted suicide to “mature minors” if they face a natural death that is “reasonably foreseeable.” The report, “Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada: Choices for Canadians,” was tabled…


‘No Evidence’ Veterans Were Offered Unsolicited Assisted Suicide by Federal Department, Minister Says

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay says there is “no evidence” that medically assisted death was ever offered unprompted, or suggested to veterans or their families, by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC). The minister’s statement, which responded to an order paper question issued by Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant, comes less than two months after a VAC worker who…


More Than Half of Canadians Against Assisted Suicide for Mentally Ill: Poll

The majority of Canadians are not in favour of expanding medically assisted suicide, and rather have deep concerns and discomfort with the idea, according to a new poll conducted by the nonprofit Angus Reid Institute, in partnership with Cardus, a think tank. “Less than one-third of Canadians are comfortable with offering medically assisted suicide to those suffering…


Majority of Canadians Are Against Assisted Suicide for Mentally Ill: Poll

The majority of Canadians are not in favour of expanding medically assisted suicide, and rather have deep concerns and discomfort with the idea, according to a new poll conducted by the nonprofit Angus Reid Institute, in partnership with Cardus, a think tank. “Less than one-third of Canadians are comfortable with offering medically assisted suicide to those suffering…