At least 31 Canadians have asked for a doctor-assisted death since January - Action News
Home WebMail Tuesday, November 26, 2024, 10:47 AM | Calgary | -16.2°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Politics

At least 31 Canadians have asked for a doctor-assisted death since January

At least 31 Canadians have asked for a doctor-assisted death. However, the number could be higher, as at least two provinces aren't sharing numbers.

Number could be higher, as some provinces lack ability to track doctor-assisted death requests

At least 31 Canadians have asked for a doctor's help to die, since the medical option became legal. (Darren Bernhardt/CBC)

At least 31Canadians have reached out to their doctorasking for help to die since mid-January.

But the number may actually be significantly higher, as two of Canada's largest provinces aren't ready to share data on the issue yet.

CBC News reached out to the health and justice departments of all 13 provinces and territoriesasking for the total number of Canadians who have requested a physician-assisted deathsince June 7 at 12:01 a.m. when the deadline to pass an assisted-dying law expired.

At that point, the Supreme Court's original ruling became the law, which means doctors can't be prosecuted if they help a patient suffering from a "grievousand irremediable" illness to die.

Ontario is the only province that includednumbersfrom applications dating back to Jan.15, 2016, when the Supreme Court ruled individuals could ask a judge for a doctor-assisted death, while Ottawa fine-tuned its legislation.

Procedures and regulations vary from province to provincebecause the federal government still has not passed a law governing the practice. Tracking methods also vary greatly between regions.

Ottawa was supposed to have doctor-assisted dying legislationin place by June 6. Butthe Liberals missed the deadlineafter delays in the House of Commons. The legislation is currently before the Senate.

Ontario appears to have the highest number of requeststo date.

"The Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario is aware of 14 applications.allowing the applicants to receive physician-assisted dying,"spokesman BrendanCrawleysaid in anemail. "The court granted the applications in 12 cases, one case was withdrawn by the applicant, and one case is still pending before the court."

But provincial officials could have difficulty tracking requests."As of June 6, 2016, individuals who meet the criteria are no longer required to apply to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for judicial authorization to access medical assistance in dying," Crawley said.

New requests, but no deaths in Alberta

Alberta has received at least nine requests since the June 6deadline passed.Don Stewart, a spokesman for Alberta Health Services, says no deaths have been administered yet as a result of those requests.

Nova Scotia is currently considering four applications for doctor-assisted dying.

Saskatchewan has received tworequests, so far, and both have been approved.A spokesperson for the province saysone patient died before assistance could be granted.The second patient has not acted on the approvalyet.

Manitoba has received onerequest, but a spokesperson would not comment further, citing privacy concerns.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, onerequest has also been received.Luke Joyce, a spokesman for the Justice Department, says "that request has not yet been granted."

Officials in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick,Nunavut, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories all say they have not had any requests for a doctor-assisted death.

Information 'lag' in British Columbia

Provincial health officials in British Columbia say they do not have information to share at this time, on the number of applications or doctor assisted deaths.

Although a spokesperson originally said B.C. was not tracking the data, as the province was waiting for federal legislation on the issue, another official later contacted CBC News to clarify that cases are being tracked since the ban against medically assisted dying expired on June 6 in the absence of a new law.

The official explained that doctors in B.C. are required to share the information with the province's College of Physicians and Surgeons and thatinformation will eventually be shared with the province. Until then, the spokesperson said there will be a "lag" in reporting the data.

Quebec still collecting data

In Quebec, where medically assisted dying has been legal since December 2015, officials say they do not know the number of patients who have requested the option.

In an email, a spokesperson explained that medical institutions are compiling data on requests and deaths, and that information willsubmitted to an independent commission on end-of-life care.

The commission will outline the numbers in a reportto be presented to the government in lateSeptember.