News in 2017

  • December 21, 2017: "Medical aid in dying" is considered a suicide in Saskatchewan. Read more
  • December 16, 2017: The Government of Canada publishes a draft of regulations outlining a proposed monitoring system for assisted suicide in Canada. Read more
  • December 12, 2017: The CBC airs a mini-documentary about assisted suicide that features a doctor giving a lethal injection to a patient. Read more
  • November 22, 2017: According to a survey conducted by the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS), paediatricians are already increasingly being asked by parents to euthanize disabled or dying children and infants. Read more
  • October 27, 2017: A report from the Canadian Paediatric Society indicates some Canadian paediatricians may be open to extending euthanasia to minors and teens. Read more
  • October 26, 2017: According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, parents are increasingly asking to have the option of medically assisted death for their children. Read more here and here
  • October 20, 2017: The number of cases of medically assisted suicide has risen in Manitoba. Read more
  • October 17, 2017: A court case in British Columbia is already seeking to expand Canada’s euthanasia law. Read more here and here
  • October 12, 2017: With a growing number of cases of euthanasia in Canada, the recent publication of a study showing the economic benefits of euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada raises concerns. Read more here and here
  • October 9, 2017: A “2nd Interim Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada” is published by the canadian Department of Health. Read more here and here
  • October 6, 2017: According to a report published by the federal Department of Health, the number of patients who have used medical assistance in dying in Canada has jumped by nearly 50% in recent months. Read more
  • October 5, 2017: A woman files a lawsuit against the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, alleging that the medical team disconnected her husband without consent. Read more here and here
  • September 24, 2017: The Nova Scotia Health Authority reports that of 64 referrals made for medical assistance in dying, 23 were completed between Jan. 1 and Canada Day. Read more
  • September 18, 2017: According to a report by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, patients who could benefit from palliative care could not be identified, assessed, and oriented early enough in the course of the disease so that appropriate care can be integrated as soon as possible in their care plan. Read more
  • September 9, 2017: The Canadian Mental Health Association says medical assistance in dying for psychiatric patients should remain illegal. Read more
  • August 25, 2017: The Canadian Medical Association says changes need to be made within the country's health care system to meet the needs of more and more seniors. Read more
  • August 24, 2017: A survey by the Canadian Medical Association reveals that a majority of physicians surveyed are supportive of expanding access to medical aid to die. Read more
  • August 22, 2017: A new report on the Canada Pension Plan expansion shows that annual spending is expected to reach record levels in the coming decades. Read more
  • August 14, 2017: Dying With Dignity Canada is poised to challenge an Ontario law that exempts religious hospitals from offering assisted suicide. Read more here and here
  • July 28, 2017: The Ontario Palliative Care Network, an agency responsible for expanding Ontario’s network of hospice care, wants early and equitable access to assisted suicide. Read more
  • July 28, 2017: The Ontario Palliative Care Network firmly wants early and equitable access to hospice palliative care even though most hospices and the majority of doctors are opposed to it. Read more
  • July 24, 2017: A Canadian mother says doctor brought up assisted suicide option as sick daughter was within earshot. After saying she was not interested, doctor told her she was "being selfish." Read more
  • July 7, 2017: 548 people were euthananized in Ontario. Cancer was the most common underlying condition in most cases. Read more
  • July 6, 2017: In Ontario, only 74 physicians have signed up to the new phone line that pairs patients seeking medical assistance to die for health care professionals. Read more
  • July 5, 2017: A study from the B.C. Medical Journal found that there were 72 cases of medically assisted deaths on Vancouver Island from June to December 2016. Read more
  • July 3, 2017: Some Canadian doctors are no longer accepting referrals for euthanasia because of inconsistent and insufficient reimbursement for time taken to help patients die. Read more
  • June 28, 2017: In granting a 77-year-old woman with osteoarthritis permission to "receive medical aid to die", the Superior Court of Justice interpreted the law on medical aid in dying more broadly. Read more
  • June 27, 2017: In Ontario, a nurse who refused to euthanize patients under the Assisted Suicide Act was forced to resign. Read more
  • June 26, 2017: Elizabeth Wettlaufer, a nurse who confessed to killing 8 people in Ontario while on duty, is sentences to 25 years in prison. Read more here and here
  • June 15, 2017: Manitoba’s Bill 34, which would provide protections for medical professionals who do not want to participate in assisted suicide, enters its second reading in the Legislative Assembly. Read more
  • June 13, 2017: Three organizations and five doctors are challenging the Ontario College of Physicians regulations on medical aid in dying before the courts in order to protect their conscience rights. Read more
  • June 12, 2017: A court case in British Columbia begins looking into the constitutionality of the federal government’s restriction of availability of euthanasia. Read more
  • May 25, 2017: A Canadian study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that the primary reason why patients requested assisted dying was to relieve “existential distress”. Read more here and here
  • May 23, 2017: A second plaintiff has been added to the constitutional challenge to the Trudeau Government’s assisted dying legislation to request its extension to people who are not at the end of life. Read more
  • May 17, 2017: The government of Manitoba introduces a bill to protect conscientious objection to medically assisted death. Read more here and here
  • April 27, 2017: The Federal government publishes a first interim report on medical assistance in dying (euthanasia and assisted suicide), in which it states that during the first six months of the new Canadian law, from June 17 to December 31, 2016, a total of 907 people have died by euthanasia or assisted suicide. Read more
  • April 22, 2017: Pro and anti assisted suicide advocates call for Nova Scotia’s Health Authority to be more transparent in releasing stats on those who apply to end their lives. Read more
  • April 17, 2017: Mediatized suicide of young Adam Maier-Clayton, an activist for the legalization of euthanasia for people with mental illness. Read more
  • April 6, 2017: Physicians in Ontario express their concern with Bill 84 for its failure to protect the conscience rights of doctors in Ontario. Read more here and here
  • April 2, 2017: Ontario’s health minister announces that the government will establish a new service to help people get access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. Read more
  • March 30, 2017: The Ontario Government Committee excludes the Euthanasia Prevention Coalitionfrom the Bill 84 - The Medical Assistance in Dying Statute Law Amendment Act hearings. Although receiving written and oral submissions, the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs rejected the EPC request to make an oral submission to the committee concerning Bill 84. Read more
  • March 20, 2017: Doctors are already harvesting organs from Canadian patients who underwent medically assisted death,and ethicists worry it could make it harder for euthanasia patients to voice a last-minute change of heart. Read more
  • March 9, 2017: The Federal government is reviewing assisted dying eligibility. People being denied its access are the subject of a review. Read more
  • March 8, 2017: Of the $ 11.5 billion pledged to the provinces over the next 10 years, a tiny portion - less than 3% - will be channeled this year to health services. Read more
  • February 27, 2017: Some doctors who have helped people end their lives are officially backing out of assisted death as they are no longer willing to participate in assisted death because of emotional distress or fear of prosecution if their decisions are second-guessed. Read more
  • February 12, 2017: 188 physician-assisted suicides have been registered in British Columbia between June and January. Read more
  • January 23, 2017: A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal concludes that assisted dying could save money. Read more
  • January 16, 2017: An article published in the Journal of Medical Ethics argues for permitting the collection of organs from euthanized persons. Read more
  • January 15, 2017: Far more requests for assisted suicide than anticipated in Manitoba. Read more

 

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