QUEBEC (AP) — Quebec has adopted a right to-die bill in what is the first legislation of its kind in Canada. The federal Canadian government, however, has said it could challenge its legality.
Bill 52 carried the day by a 94-22 majority. The legislation is officially dubbed “an act respecting end-of-life care.”
It stipulates that patients themselves would have to repeatedly ask a doctor to end their lives on the basis of unbearable physical or psychological suffering. They would have to be deemed mentally sound at the time of the requests.
Assisted suicide and euthanasia are illegal under Canada’s Criminal Code and Ottawa has insisted it has no intention of changing that.
Quebec politicians have argued that delivery of health-care falls under provincial jurisdiction and has said it is on solid legal footing.
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