Physician-assisted death law will need clarity, CMA says

The Canadian Medical Association is seeking consistency with provincial laws surroundingphysician-assisted dying acrossCanada before next February.

"This is going to be confusing enough and challenging enough without inconsistency across provincial jurisdictions ... we really would like to see a unified approach," said Dr. JeffBlackmerthe vice-president of medical professionalism at the CMA.

WhatBlackmersaid hedoesn't want to see is "patchwork legislation"that would leave some provinces with varying qualifications for the right to die.

"We want to avoid a situation where one province has legislation that allows for assisted dying for someone with depression and another province does not people with depression will flock to that province," he said.

Information Morning - Fredericton13:21Assisted Dying

Dr. Jeff Blackmer, VP of medical professionalism at Canadian Medical Association, discusses the challenges facing assisted dying in Canada.

Blackmerwill be speaking at the University of New Brunswick on Wednesday about the challenges facing the country in getting the law regarding physician-assisted death right.

The fight for assisted suicide ended inFebruary when the Supreme Court overturned a ban on physician-assisted dying.

This is going to be confusing enough and challenging enough without inconsistency across provincial jurisdictions we really would like to see a unified approach.- Dr. JeffBlackmer

The Supreme Court gave federal and provincial governments12 months to craft legislation to respond to the ruling.

"The Supreme Court has painted a pretty wide picture for us," saidBlackmer.

Canada's assisted suicidelawdoesn't make reference to a requirement of a terminal illness, the challenge now is to create parameters around the decision.

"They have said people with a grievous and irremediable condition and unrelieved suffering that's a pretty big group of people," he said.

"We need to make sure we all understand who qualifies."

The ruling outlined that those who qualify have to be competent at the time the decision is made. Unlike places such asthe Netherlands, the decision to die cannot be set out in a living will.

Blackmerhas been meeting with provincial ministers of health to discuss these challenges. He hasn't met with New Brunswick's Victor Boudreau yet but says a meeting isin the works.