reports from council
Interim Guidance for
Physician-Assisted Death
Unless extension granted, SCC decision to go into effect in February
photos: D.W. Dorken
This is a brief
overview of the
discussions and
decisions made
at the December
Council meeting.
T
he Supreme Court of
Canada’s (SCC’s) decision to lift a blanket
prohibition on physician-assisted death is scheduled to
go into effect shortly. The College
has consulted on a draft document
that will serve as interim guidance
for the profession, in the event that
the government does not have a
framework in place when the decision goes into effect.
Carter v Canada legalizes physician-assisted death in circumstances
where a competent adult is suffering intolerably from a grievous and
irremediable medical condition,
and clearly consents to the termination of life.
The SCC suspended its decision for 12 months to allow the
federal and/or provincial governments to design, if they so choose, a
framework to govern the provision
of physician-assisted death. This
decision takes effect on February 6,
2016 unless the SCC grants government an extension.
In order to ensure that this
draft interim guidance document
– CPSO Interim Guidance on
Physician-Assisted Death – was
finalized in time, the College h [