Canada introduces new assisted suicide law for adults suffering from incurable illness
TORONTO — Canada has introduced a new assisted suicide law that will only apply to Canadians and residents, meaning Americans won’t be able to travel to Canada to die.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is likely to pass the new assisted suicide law.
Visitors will be excluded under the proposed law announced Thursday, precluding the prospect of suicide tourism.
Canadian government officials said to take advantage of the law the person would have to be eligible for health services in Canada.
The law provides a choice “for adults who are suffering intolerably and for whom death is reasonably foreseeable.”
It says the person must be mentally competent, 18 or older, have a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability and be in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability.
Canada’s Supreme Court last year struck down laws that bar doctors from helping someone die, but put the ruling on hold while the government came up with a new law.
The proposed law still requires approval in Parliament, but is expected to pass as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government controls the majority of seats in Parliament.
The law says the person must be mentally competent, 18 or older, have a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability and be in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability.
Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, Germany, Albania, Colombia, Japan and the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana. California lawmakers also passed legislation, expected to take effect later this year, where proof of California residency is required.
Germany’s law applies to Germans and foreigners alike. Switzerland’s law is valid for everyone in Switzerland, and people who take part in assisted suicides are not required to be residents or citizens, according to Justice Ministry spokesman Bernardo Stadelmann.
The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg allow doctors, under strict conditions, to euthanize patients whose medical conditions have been judged hopeless and who are in great pain.
Canada’s Supreme Court declared last year that outlawing that option deprives dying people of their dignity and autonomy. It had been illegal in Canada to counsel, aid or abet a suicide, an offense carrying a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
Quebec already passed legislation last year after the court’s decision. And since the top court ruling, Canadian judges elsewhere have given individual patients permission for assisted deaths.
To get a doctor’s help under the law, a written request is required, either from the patient or a designated person if the patient is incapable, and the request would need to be signed by two independent witnesses.
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