Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough says she's open to amending a bill on assisted dying to prevent health practitioners from discussing medical assistance in dying with a patient who doesn't ask for it.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Disability Inclusion Minister Carla Qualtrough says she’s open to amending a bill on assisted dying to prevent health practitioners from discussing medical assistance in dying with a patient who hasn’t asked for it.
Qualtrough has told a Senate committee studying the bill that she has “grave concerns” about the case of Roger Foley, a 45-year-old with a neurodegenerative disease, who alleges that he was pressured by hospital staff to seek an assisted death when he asked for home care.
She hears regularly from people who are appalled to discover that a family member with a disability has been offered an assisted death without asking for it.
She says it’s a practice that has to stop.
Qualtrough was pressed to explain why Bill C-7, which would expand the assisted-dying regime, doesn’t include a provision specifying that any discussion about assisted dying must be initiated by the patient.
She says she’s open to considering such an amendment.
Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.