The Quebec provincial government will now allow assisted suicide for individuals who cannot consent during the procedure, which one pro-life advocate calls a “dehumanizing” policy that “devalues” individuals with diminished mental capacity.

State government website It notes that “preliminary requests” for medical aid in dying (MAID) can be made by people who have been “diagnosed with a serious and incurable disease that causes incapacity,” such as Alzheimer’s disease.

The government says the request “must be made while the person is still capable of consenting to care,” but concedes that the lethal procedure will be carried out “when the person is incapable of (consenting) to care.”

Some lawyers welcomed this decision. Cathy Barrick, CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association of Ontario. he told the media this week Assisted death “should also be accessible to people with dementia.”

Meanwhile, Sandra Demontigny, spokesperson for the Quebec Right to Die with Dignity Association and herself a patient with Alzheimer’s – he told the media He said he had “been waiting for this day for years.”

“I want to take care of myself and my body… I don’t want to rely on people,” she said.

New rule ‘devalues ​​people with memory loss’

Amanda Achtman, who supports ethics training for Canadian Physicians for Life, argues that this policy instead “inevitably devalues ​​people with memory loss as well as people who may not be able to consent for different reasons, such as having a certain disability.”

“The basic anthropology espoused by a regime that demands death in advance is that personality diminishes with the loss of memory and cognition,” he told CNA. “This is a dehumanizing perspective.”

Achtman, who also runs the nonprofit I’m dying to meet youHe noted that Quebec’s expanded criteria are actually illegal under the national criminal code, but that “the federal government is unlikely to prosecute any of these crimes in Quebec due to political considerations.”

Achtman said euthanasia is already available in a limited context for Canadians with dementia. Approximately 1 in 10 Canadians receiving MAID in 2022 had dementia; They were able to obtain the procedure under a narrower waiver of consent.

Quebec’s new “expanded criteria” — and the government’s likely lack of litigation over it — “show how Quebec is pushing the boundaries of the law on matters of life and death without any consequences,” Achtman said.

Assisted suicide has become increasingly popular in Canada since it was first legalized in 2016.

Government statistics in 2022 stated It noted that MAID was the sixth leading cause of death in Canada, with 13,241 “MAID verdicts” reported that year, accounting for 4.1% of all deaths nationwide.

Activists have regularly pushed for an expansion of MAID. A group of euthanasia advocates He filed a lawsuit against the federal government in August Allowing physician-assisted suicide by those with mental illness.

government at the beginning of the year paused planned expansion of the program This included the mentally ill, but in question will reevaluate the policy in three years to allow states to “prepare their health systems” for the expansion.

Meanwhile, in March, a judge ruled: a woman with autism Her request to die by assisted suicide was granted, defeating the woman’s father’s efforts to stop the fatal procedure.

Achtman said pro-life advocates “must restore a correct view of the human person by insisting on the immutable dignity of every individual, no matter what.”

He quoted Pope Francis, who described euthanasia as a “failure of love” and “a reflection of a throwaway culture.” Pro-life advocates, he said, “are responsible for advancing a positive alternative vision in which every person is valued and belongs.”

“We must be prophets of hope who never tire of reminding us that our deepest identity and destiny consists of the limitless human potential to love and be loved, and that this is unshakable,” he said.