Tag: Jean-Pierre Ménard

Slaying of nursing-home patient renews questions about medical assistance in dying

Montreal Gazette

Aaron Derfel

The alleged murder of an ailing nursing-home patient by her spouse on Monday has renewed questions about Quebec’s law on medical assistance in dying, especially when it comes to those who might be suffering from dementia.

On Tuesday, Michel Cadotte was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Jocelyne Lizotte, a patient of the east-end Centre d’hébergement émilie-Gamelin. Lizotte was reportedly suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and was denied a request for assisted dying.

Under Quebec’s “end-of-life care” act, which came into effect on Dec. 10, 2015, a patient seeking medical assistance in dying must make the request “in a free and informed manner.” . . . [Full text]

 

Ontario hospitals allowed to opt out of assisted dying, raising conscientious accommodation concerns

National Post

Sharon Kirkey

Ontario will allow hospitals to opt out of providing assisted death within their walls, provoking charges from ethicists that conscientious accommodation has gone too far.

Elsewhere in the country, a divide is already shaping up, with half of voluntary euthanasia cases in Quebec reportedly occurring in Quebec City hospitals — and few in Montreal.

The situation highlights the messy state of the emotionally charged debate as the provinces wrestle with the new reality of doctor-assisted death, and as the Senate takes a proposed new law further than the governing Liberals are prepared to go. . . [Full Text]

 

Calgary woman dies after being granted right to physician-assisted suicide

 Right to die: ‘We were grateful and honoured to be able to help her,’ says doctor

CBC News

A Calgary woman who received a legal exemption for doctor-assisted death has ended her life in Vancouver with the help of two physicians.

It is believed she is the first person in Canada outside of Quebec to be allowed to legally end her life with help from a doctor.

The woman, who cannot be identified because of a court-ordered publication ban, died with her family at her side.

“My colleague and I were grateful and honoured to be able to help her,” Dr. W, a clinical professor at the University of British Columbia, said in an e-mail to The Canadian Press. The doctor also cannot be ID’d due to the publication ban. . . [Full text]

 

Quebec’s new assisted-dying law leaves doctors struggling to adapt

Fear of legal reprisal still widespread among health professionals

CBC News

Two months after Quebec’s assisted-dying law came into effect, about 10 patients have chosen to end their lives with the help of a doctor.

Health Minister Gaétan Barrette says this is a sign that things are going well and there are no systematic obstacles.

“The information that I have from the ground and from the College of Physicians is that teams are in place and that access is there,” Barrette said.

“Problems, if there were any, were resolved quickly.”

Doctors and patient advocates tell a different story.

Jean-Pierre Ménard, a lawyer specializing in health law, says his clients have reported trouble obtaining medical assistance to die. . . [Full text]

 

 

A bureaucracy of medical deception

 Quebec physicians told to falsify euthanasia death certificates

Regulators support coverup of euthanasia from families

Sean Murphy*

A bureaucracy of medical deceptionIn the first week of September, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) was reported to be “seeking ‘clarity'” about whether or not physicians who perform euthanasia should misrepresent the medical cause of death, classifying death by lethal injection or infusion as death by natural causes. The question arose because the Quebec College of Physicians was said to be “considering recommending” that Quebec physicians who provide euthanasia should declare the immediate cause of death to be an underlying medical condition, not the administration of the drugs that actually kill the patient.1 In fact, the Collège des médecins du Québec and pharmacy and nursing regulators in the province had already made the decision. In August, the three regulators issued a Practice Guide directing Quebec physicians to falsify death certificates in euthanasia cases.

The physician must write as the immediate cause of death the disease or morbid condition which justified [the medical aid in dying] and caused the death. It is not a question of the manner of death (cardiac arrest), but of the disease, accident or complication that led to the death. The term medical aid in dying should not appear on this document.2

Lawyer Jean Pierre Ménard correctly observed that Quebec’s euthanasia law does not require physicians to report euthanasia on death certificates.1  M. Ménard is an expert on euthanasia law consulted by the Quebec government and the CMA,3  but he seems unaware of guidelines relevant to the classification of deaths and medico-legal death investigations. . . [Full text]