“Of course, we would have liked it to be faster. We understand that there may be people who will be disappointed," seniors minister Sonia Bélanger says.
QUEBEC — It could take two years after passage of Quebec’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) bill for advance requests to be made.
The minister responsible for seniors, Sonia Bélanger, explained Wednesday that it took time to harmonize the new version of MAID with other laws. “You have to do things well. We have work to do within our government and our ministry to support people properly,” she explained.
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“Of course, we would have liked it to be faster. We understand that there may be people who will be disappointed.”
Detailed consideration of the medical assistance in dying bill has been completed. Parliamentarians still hope to have it adopted by the end of the session on June 9.
The minister said it will be a free vote for the Coalition Avenir Québec caucus. “I’m confident that the vast majority will be in favour,” she said.
Bill 11 will modify the initial law on MAID to allow a person to receive end-of-life care in the place where they want it.
This amendment follows revelations by La Presse that some funeral homes were offering MAID.
The Act Respecting End-of-Life Care specifies, in Section 4, that a person may seek end-of-life care “in a facility maintained by an institution, in a palliative care hospice or at home.”
The term “institution” encompasses “any institution governed by the Act Respecting Health Services and Social Services that operates a local community service centre, a hospital centre or a residential and long-term care centre.”
“We add a fourth option, which is according to the will of the person,” Bélanger said.
However, this practice will be supervised. The bill now states that “no one may promote or advertise any good or service provided in the course of a commercial activity by associating it directly or indirectly with medical assistance in dying.”
It will also not be possible to charge a fee — for example for the rental of a room — to offer MAID.
Also, the location chosen must be approved by a director of professional services or a director of nursing.
Parti Québécois MNA Joël Arseneau, meanwhile, said he still has reservations about the idea of allowing MAID to be offered anywhere.
“I am uncomfortable with the fact that we were not able to carry out full consultations on this file. … We will have to remain vigilant because indeed there is an opening,” he said.
Québec solidaire MNA Christine Labrie said she was deeply uneasy when she learned that MAID could be offered in funeral homes. She said she is now satisfied with the amendments.
“There are important safeguards that we have just put in, in particular no one is going to make money with that,” she said.
Liberal MNA Elisabeth Prass said she is comfortable with the framework, but deplored the delay for advance requests. “So there are people who are fit today who, 24 months from now, may no longer be fit and therefore no longer have the authority to apply early. There was some disappointment in that regard,” she said.
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