Quebec approves MAID advance applications from October 30

The Quebec government is keeping its promise from last month and will allow certain requests for physician-assisted suicide early starting in the fall.

Since October 30, patients have been able to request the procedure early, before they are no longer able to give consent due to their condition.

Quebec passed a law in June 2023 allowing requests from people with serious and incurable illnesses such as Alzheimer's.

In a statement released Saturday, Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said the government was taking “the necessary steps” to ensure that “the collective decisions of the nation of Quebec are respected.”

“The issue of advance directives regarding physician-assisted suicide is widely supported in Quebec,” said Jolin-Barrette.

Protecting doctors and nurses from criminal charges

The Minister of Justice stated that he would ask the public prosecutor not to bring charges against the doctors and nurses who perform this procedure.

Quebec had previously stated that it would wait until the Criminal Code was amended to ensure that health care workers did not commit a crime if they ended the life of a person who was no longer able to consent.

A spokesman for the Minister of Justice had stated that the federal government had refused to change the penal code despite repeated requests from the country.

Soon after the minister’s announcement Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (DPCP) said it would instruct prosecutors that authorising a prosecution for physician-assisted suicide would be “not in the public interest” if the service was carried out in accordance with the wishes of a patient who voluntarily consented.

The DPCP said in a statement on Saturday that the director must be personally informed of all files relating to a case of physician-assisted suicide that could be submitted to the DPCP so that it can “determine the appropriate decision-making process”.