• 18/01/2025

    Moving on

    The Economist

    “A new law adopted in the province of Quebec on October 31st allows Ms Demontigny to request what Canadians call medical assistance in dying (MAID) long in advance of her deterioration. It represents a significant expansion of Canada’s federal laws on assisted dying, which require patients to provide consent immediately before they receive a set of lethal injections. In Quebec, patients with an illness that will eventually render them incapable of granting that consent can now make arrangements for MAID months or even years in the future, long before their condition deteriorates. Ms Demontigny, a radiant 45-year-old, says she is immensely relieved that her death will come at a point of her choosing, and feels that it will be more dignified for that.”

    “Slightly over 1,000 Canadians opted for a doctor-assisted death in 2016, the first year in which it was permitted. By 2023 that number had risen to 15,343, 4.7% of the 326,571 deaths in Canada that year. No country that permits assisted dying has seen faster growth in the practice. (The Netherlands has allowed assisted dying for more than two decades, and it accounts for a higher share of deaths there than in any other country, 5.4% as of 2023.)” [emphasis added]