Years after medical aid in death became lawful, the controversy rants on

Key takeaways: 

• Some want to notice MAID grew, while others are worried about existing rules.
• Though MAID became regulation over half a decade ago, disputes still rant over who can and should be able to access it.

The debate rants after MAID become law: 

Advocates on each side of the case are readying for a conflict in the new year over widened access to medical assistance in dying (MAID) and whether it would pose threats to Canadians with disabilities.

In March 2021, Parliament passed Bill C-7. The rule made several modifications to Canada’s MAID rule, enacted in 2016 — the most significant being the abolition of the stipulation that a person’s death has to be “reasonably foreseeable” to allow for medical assistance. Source – cbc.ca

Helen Long is CEO of Dying with Dignity Canada, a national organization advocating for MAID liberties. She said the rule gave a further set of individuals the right to cease their grief.

“So that’s opened up a what we call a ‘track two,’ a completely new track for individuals with a distinct type of illness who haven’t been eligible in the past, even if they may have been suffering just as intolerably,” she stated. Source – cbc.ca

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Another significant difference introduced in C-7, she stated, permits those who requested for MAID and were discovered suitable to still acquire it if they later lose the ability to assent.

C-7’s effects on the number of individuals pursuing MAID in Canada are not yet apparent.

The federal government has issued annual reports wrapping MAID statistics for the past two years. The most current covered 2020; it registered 7,595 cases of medically assisted death in Canada in that year — a 34.2 per cent growth over 2019.

When the media requested the 2021 numbers, a Health Canada representative indicated to the most current report.