All About Estates

Category: Medical Assistance in Dying

Total 12 Posts

BILL C-62 – Delays the inclusion of mental illness from MAID eligibility

Everyone knows the tragic Shakespeare tale of how Juliet awakens from her “death” to discover that her love Romeo had taken his life, believing that Juliet had really died.  Juliet, in her own state of sorrow, stabs herself with a dagger and is joined forever with her love Romeo. This…

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Update on Suggested Amendment for Capacity to Consent to MAiD

I suggest “an appreciation of the impact MAiD will have on family members and friends” be included in fulfilling the proposed amendment of the appreciation test for consenting to MAiD. The proposed amendment would not mandate being bound by others’ opinions, but that that lack of ability to appreciate the views of one’s significant others would demonstrate a lack of ability to apply the relevant information to one’s circumstances.

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Update on MAiD: Mental Disorder as a Sole Underlying Medical Condition

In Canada, the law no longer restricts medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to people whose death is reasonably foreseeable: as of March 17, 2023, people with a mental disorder as a sole underlying medical condition (MD-SUMC) will be eligible for MAiD.

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Capacity to Consent to MAiD: A Suggestion For Amendment

I have found it uncommon for a family member or beneficiary to exert undue influence to pressure a patient to pursue MAiD. What worries me is the vulnerability of patients to undue influence from physicians who may embrace therapeutic nihilism and bias patients unduly towards MAiD. I suggest that, for capacity to consent to MAiD, the test of “ability to appreciate” should be expanded to require an appreciation of the views and wishes of supportive family members and friends.

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Changes to Consent to Medical Assistance in Dying

Changes to MAiD laws will allow some patients whose deaths are foreseeable to provide advance directives regarding medical assistance in dying.

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MAID Update – Bill C-7

The senate has passed Bill C-7, which introduces changes to Canada’s Criminal Code provisions regulating MAID. The changes will create a new, two-track system for applying for MAID.

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Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) – An Update

Today marks a court-imposed deadline regarding legislative amendments to our laws on medical assistance in dying (“MAiD”). This topic, although heavy, has been important to me, particularly over the past year. As recently as the US election, someone close to me was scheduled for MAiD. As her date was approaching,…

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Third Party Appeals of Healthcare Decisions

As reported in the media[i] [ii] [iii], Nova Scotia’s appeals court recently heard a case involving a woman who is trying to stop her husband from receiving medical assistance in dying (MAiD). The woman is appealing a lower court decision that rejected her request for an interlocutory injunction against her…

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New Guidelines on Provision of CPR in Hospitals

The case of Wawrzyniak v. Livingstone, 2019 ONSC 4900 (CanLII) is a landmark decision that readers may find interesting. It clarifies physicians’ obligations with respect to the writing of no-CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) orders and the provision of CPR in Ontario hospitals. The decision has led to the College of Physicians…

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A New Way to Plan for Death

Today’s blog is being brought to you by guest blogger, Jennifer Campbell, a law clerk in the Private Client Services group of Fasken LLP. I recently came across an article talking about death doulas. Yes, you read right, death doulas. While I’ve heard of doulas helping pregnant women come up…

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