2024-10-19 04:00:00
Quebecers who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease will be able to make an advance request for medical assistance in dying as of October 30. Like a will, they will be able to fill out a form in anticipation of the moment when they can no longer consent to care. Requested for a long time, this expansion is welcomed with relief by patients, even if doctors have reservations about its implementation.
Patients and doctors welcome early medical assistance in dying as a major step forward for Quebec.
“It was the greatest relief,” breathed Sandra Demontigny, when she knew that the government would move forward with this expansion of the law.
The 45-year-old woman suffers from a rare early form of Alzheimer’s disease and had become the face of the campaign to obtain this right early.
Neurosurgeon Georges L’Espérance is president of the Quebec Association for the Right to Die with Dignity (AQDMD). PHOTO PROVIDED BY GEORGES L’ESPERANCE
“People want to have control over their lives,” argues neurosurgeon and president of the Quebec Association for the Right to Die with Dignity (AQDMD), Georges L’Espérance.
Strong support
According to him, society’s strong support for medical assistance in dying and the new provisions in cases of incapacity demonstrate this desire.
“Do you want to no longer know who you are, where you are, and who you are with? he asks. The answer is quite easy.”
Sandra Demontigny saw her father fall into the same illness several years ago. “He would never have wanted to see himself doing the business he was doing […] I don’t want to experience that, neither for myself nor for my children,” she says.
PHOTO D’ARCHIVES, STEVENS LEBLANC
Better care?
The poor state of the health network has nothing to do with patients’ interest in medical assistance in dying, believes Dr. L’Espérance.
The best care will not cure terminal cancer, just as million-dollar rooms in seniors’ homes will not cure dementia, he illustrates.
For him, there is no difference between palliative care, where a patient’s suffering is relieved until their death, from several hours to several days, and medical assistance in dying.
“The pillar of medical assistance in dying is that it is the patient who requests it […] It is very well regulated in Quebec and there are no deviations,” argues the neurosurgeon.
You can consult the guide from the Ministry of Health and Social Services ici.
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