Quebec doctors urged not to kill patients after increase in 'non-complaint' assisted suicide cases

The Canadian province of Quebec is telling its doctors to refrain from killing patients that have asked to die by lethal injection through the country's controversial medically assisted suicide program.

In a memo sent to Quebec doctors, the province warned that there has been a rise in "non-compliant" cases, and urged them to reconsider prescribing their patients with a fatal injection through Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), according to Daily Mail.



"It is too early to conclude that there has been a drift in the MAiDs administered, but great rigor is required for providers and great vigilance for the commission," the Aug. 4 memo said, which was obtained by the outlet.

Dr. Michel Bureau, president of Quebec's commission on end-of-life care, sounded the alarm about cases being approved for MAiD that should have not qualified. He said the approvals came as a result of "confusion" surrounding the new law, which had recently been updated to include patients with Alzheimer's disease.

The memo warned doctors that the new rules do not go into effect until Spring of 2024, and claimed that doctors had been sharing "erroneous information" about the new rules which resulted in an increase in non-compliant cases. It also stated that doctors have not been giving patients enough time to decide if they want to die by assisted suicide before receiving a lethal injection.

Furthermore, doctors were told in the memo that they need to "space out appointments" in order to give their patients more time to decide. They were accused of not getting a second doctor's opinion before approving fatal jabs to their patients, according to the Mail.
 

"Shopping around for a favorable second opinion is not an acceptable practice," the memo said. 

In 2021-2022, Quebec discovered that 15 assisted deaths, or 0.4 percent of all assisted deaths, did not meet the regulations between 2021 and 2022. According to the outlet, in six of those situations, the victim did not have a significant and incurable disease but was still prescribed death.

Nearly 5,000 patients died by MAiD within the last year, amounting to roughly 8 percent of all deaths in the province, the outlet reports.

This comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Canada encouraged doctors to discuss medically assisted deaths with patients.