OTTAWA GIVEN ADDITIONAL 4 MONTHS TO CHANGE MEDICAL ASSISTED IN DYING LAW
Mar 02, 2020
By Bob Komsic
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The federal government requested and has been given four more months to amend its assisted in dying legislation.
After Quebec’s Superior Court ruled last September it’s unconstitutional to limit medically assisted death to those whose natural death is ”reasonably foreseeable,” Federal Justice Minister David Lametti said the government would not be able to meet the March 11 deadline and the Quebec court has agreed in a ruling today.
Ottawa now has until July 11, but Justice Christine Baudouin makes a provision for those who had been hoping to access medically assisted death as of March 11.
She says those who meet the other criteria, but whose natural death is not ”reasonably foreseeable” can apply to court for an exemption, pending amendments to the law.