CMA puts together framework for assisted suicide ahead of deadline
Posted June 30, 2015 4:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) Right to die activists are joining Canadian doctors in making their own suggestions for how our country should allow terminally ill people to end their lives. The Canadian Medical Association has put together its own framework now that the federal government has only eight months left to make some rules.
The CMA is presenting its proposal to a council of doctors which will decide whether to accept the recommendations. It includes waiting periods and a national oversight body. Two doctors would have to declare the applicant of sound mind and acting voluntarily.
CEO of Dying with Dignity Wanda Morris says they want to make sure that patient’s rights are also considered. “I think what we need to do is have a parallel process where we can support everything that we like about the CMA’s policy, which is very much, but just make sure that we’re also highlighting those issues where perhaps we have to be very careful at weighing not only the interest of doctors, but the interest of patients.”
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled five months ago that doctor-assisted suicide is something patients have a right to and gave the feds 12 months to create legislation. The Harper Government says it has no intention of doing so before the federal election in October.
