Canada’s health minister says she has heard the pleas of a Halifax woman who plans to end her life today with medical assistance.
Audrey Parker, who is terminally ill, says she will be ending her life sooner than she would like because Canada’s assisted dying law is too restrictive.
Ginette Petitpas Taylor says her heart goes out to Parker, and she would change the law for her if she could.
But the minister says she can’t do that because the government is in the middle of gathering recommendations for amendments.
Parker, diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer in 2016, says the two-year-old law will allow her to end her prolonged suffering — but she says the legislation has forced her to choose to die sooner than she would like.
She says the problem is that anyone approved for a medically assisted death must be conscious and mentally sound at the moment they give their final consent for a lethal injection.
That provision means Parker would be denied her wish to end her life with medical assistance if she were to suddenly become incapacitated by her advanced illness or the pain medication she is taking.
Parker says the law should be changed to allow for so-called advance requests, which would allow her caregiver to administer the lethal drugs even if she was unable to give her consent.
In Ottawa Wednesday, Petitpas Taylor told reporters the federal legislation can’t be altered without completing consultations on potential reforms.
“As health minister, I can tell you if I could change that law for her specifically I would. But as the minister, as a Parliamentarian, we have to have a law in place for all Canadians,” she said.
She said that a special report by experts will consider the issues Parker is raising in a report due by the end of this year.
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The Canadian Press
