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A few months after the adoption of an Act respecting end-of-life care (previously Bill 52), Minister Gaétan Barrette wants to reform health and social services networks. But this reform is dangerous for the public.

Mr. Ménard, a well-known lawyer for the rights of patients, says in Le Devoir that “it goes much further than a simple reform of the structure. It goes backwards in terms of transparency, network independence and accountability, and the population doesn’t realise what is happening”. He ...

Continue Reading → Healthcare reforms

Keeping its promise, the Couillard government is starting to cut services. The Agence de la santé et des services sociaux of Montreal will chop $87 million in mental health and in care for the elderly, starting this October. Among other cuts, hundreds of people with intellectual disabilities will lose the meagre compensation they receive.

We recently heard that a disabled man committed suicide rather than having to leave his apartment. A journalist commented that "he decided to end his ...

Continue Reading → Having fewer options to live will entice people to ask to die

A report recently released in the Netherlands states that there was a 15% increase in the number of notifications of euthanasia in that country between 2012 and 2013. The report also tells us that there was a 33% increase in the number of euthanasias done on psychiatric patients (42 cases). The report further states that dementia was the reason behind more than 2% of all euthanasias (97 cases).

The number of reported euthanasias in the Netherlands is growing. In 2003, ...

Continue Reading → Recent euthanasia numbers in the Netherlands