SASK. DOCS PEN POLICY ON ASSISTED DEATH
Guidance in the absence of federal legislation
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan is set to finalize a policy to guide the province’s doctors on the controversial issue of doctor assisted death.
While the Supreme Court of Canada has struck down the old law forbidding the service, the former Conservative government didn’t introduce new legislation.
The new Liberal government, meanwhile, could ask for an extension to the court’s Feb. 6, 2016 deadline.
However, the college doesn’t want doctors in the province to be stranded without any guidance, hence its own policy, which could be finalized at the college’s meeting today.
Associate registrar Bryan Salte walked the Saskatoon StarPhoenix through the complex issue.
Q What if a doctor objects?
A Over the course of the college’s consultations, the issue of conscientious objection reared its head again. The college has already approved a conscientious objection policy this year, but it specifically didn’t address the issue of doctor assisted dying.
Salte said the committee drafting the bylaw heard opinions ranging from never making a doctor perform the service if he or she has moral objections, to telling them they must always participate and allow patients complete access.
Ultimately, the committee adopted a middle ground from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta which is similar to its own existing conscientious objection policy.
It says an objecting doctor can’t abandon the patient and must provide sufficient information and resources to allow the patient to make an informed choice, even if that conflicts with the doctor’s beliefs.
Q What is an adult?
A The Supreme Court decision says it’s not a crime to help a competent adult die, but offers no definition of an adult, Salte said.
Experts disagree on that point, he said. Some will argue this might include a mature minor who is capable of making health care choices, while others say that’s reading too much into the decision and an adult is defined only by the provincial age of majority.
The college isn’t taking a position of its own, but is warning Saskatchewan doctors.
“In this period of uncertainty, the way we’re dealing with it is saying, ‘Because we don’t know what adult means, you could be committing a criminal offence if you do this with someone under the age of 18, so that might be a choice you want to think about,’” Salte said.
Q How would future federal legislation affect the college bylaw?
A “The legislation may trump all of this,” Salte said. At this point, however, there’s only speculation as to what that might be, he said.
If the federal government takes the narrowest possible approach, it would simply reaffirm that a doctor who helps an appropriate patient take his or her own life isn’t breaking the law. If the government goes further, it could establish an oversight board or other things, Salte said. “We have no clarity at all as to what is going to happen in six months or a year or whatever it’s going to be.”
Based in the assumptions that no legislation is announced Feb. 6 and the court doesn’t grant an extension, the College wanted to have standards ready to guide Saskatchewan people, he said.