Quebec’s Health Department says it will be ready to meet the expected demand for advanced applications for medical assistance in dying when it begins accepting those requests next week.
Dr. Stéphane Bergeron, an associate deputy minister in the department, told reporters it will take time for the first requests to be analyzed and approved, giving the health system room to adjust.
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On Oct. 30 Quebec will become the first province to allow a person with a serious and incurable illness to request a medically assisted death months or even years before their condition leaves them unable to consent to the procedure.
Quebec chose to expand its MAID program to help people with illnesses such as Alzheimer’s — without waiting for Ottawa to update the Criminal Code so health workers aren’t committing a crime if they end the life of someone who can’t consent.
The province says it has ordered the Crown prosecutor’s office not to charge doctors who choose to participate in the advanced MAID program as long they comply with the provincial act.
Bergeron says that people who seek approval for advanced MAID applications will have to meet a number of criteria, including describing in detail the symptoms that health-care workers will need to witness before administering the procedure.
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