{"id":167662,"date":"2023-07-18T13:50:20","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T17:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=167662"},"modified":"2023-07-18T14:03:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T18:03:56","slug":"quebec-adopts-bill-11-after-local-funeral-director-sparks-provincial-discussion-on-medical-aide-in-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/quebec-adopts-bill-11-after-local-funeral-director-sparks-provincial-discussion-on-medical-aide-in-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec adopts Bill 11 after local funeral director sparks provincial discussion on medical aide in dying\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Quebec government has adopted Bill 11 - \u201cAn Act to Amend the Act Respecting End-of-Life Care and Other Legislative Provisions\u201d - after local funeral director Mathieu Baker brought the subject of medical assistance in dying (MAID) back to the attention of provincial legislators.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Baker is the owner Complexe Fun\u00e9raire Brome-Missisquoi and Complexe Fun\u00e9raire Haut Richelieu and he has been offering a space for individuals seeking assisted death services outside of the typical hospital or long-term care facility setting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After becoming aware of the situation, it sparked discussions around MAID at the provincial level and it led the government to review what was previously known as Bill 38. According to a written statement to CIDI from the communications team for the Ministry of Health and Social Services, the goal with Bill 11 is to ensure that \u201cthe principles of dignity and autonomy in decision-making\u201d are at the heart of MAID through the expansion of the service - including where MAID can be provided and who is eligible to receive it - and it described the amendments as being \u201ceagerly awaited\u201d by Quebecers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Baker emphasized in an interview with CIDI that he was originally not on board with providing MAID in his facilities, but that he eventually came around after speaking with individuals that work in the health field and that have thorough knowledge on MAID in Quebec. After receiving a number of requests from families to receive MAID at his funeral homes, it was only natural for Baker to meet the needs of those who turned to him for help. While Bill 11 now allows him to offer MAID in his funeral homes, Baker said there are still some questions surrounding the amendments that he and other Quebecers hope to get answers to. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a high demand. People don\u2019t necessarily want to die at their house and they certainly don\u2019t want to go back to the hospital. If they aren\u2019t in the system, even palliative care homes don\u2019t necessarily like to deal with all that comes around medical aide in dying,\u201d explained Baker. \u201cMedical aide in dying has changed things dramatically. The funeral industry has changed, the people, it\u2019s changed the medical view - it\u2019s changed a lot. (\u2026) It\u2019s normal to have a lot of different opinions, but the reason why I started the service was simple: I was listening to my clients needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker said the decision to provide the service took a lot of people by surprise, but that it\u2019s not something he and his team took \u201clightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were associated with a lot of doctors, especially in the Haut Richelieu region. (\u2026) There\u2019s a bunch of factors of why we start to offer it. Quite honestly, I was very hesitant. There were two doctors who persuaded me to offer the service so that\u2019s where I am right now, but I am super happy that I made it happen,\u201d he mentioned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Baker noted that demand for MAID through his funeral homes is not something that he dealt with a few years ago, but that he and his team have the skills to help facilitate the process for the families and the medical staff providing MAID.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe person obviously receiving MAID has reflected on the issue and has decided to go with it. That person may have four or five children that may not necessarily be on the same page. There\u2019s a lot of tension and stuff to deal with when it comes to for the actual event to take place. We are used of dealing with grief and we are used of dealing with these families, we are already in contact with these families. It\u2019s certainly, to me, a totally natural procedure,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Under Bill 11, it is possible for someone to receive MAID in a place other than a hospital or a\u00a0 <\/span>palliative care home, including a funeral home. However, it specifies that \"no person may promote or advertise a good or service provided as part of a commercial activity by associating it directly or indirectly with medical aid in dying, or demand any sum related directly or indirectly to obtaining such aid,\u201d according to the Ministry of Health and Social Services. While Baker considers Bill 11 as a step in the right direction for MAID, he emphasized that he lacks some clarity on what this specific amendment means in terms of what he can or cannot do in terms of making people aware of MAID and what he offers. He mentioned to CIDI in a recent phone call that he has reached out to the provincial government for answers, but it suggested to reach out to his lawyers to help him better interpret the law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been calling them repeatedly asking them to explain certain issues. We\u2019ve been having phone calls after phone calls from families that want clarifications, it's not just us but them as well. I find it irresponsible for them not to answer my demands or at least for the families who are going through this difficult time,\u201d he said. \u201c(\u2026) Not that I don\u2019t want to, but I can\u2019t spend an hour or two hours on the phone explaining to people that have all these questions about MAID. Some families want to tag us, they want to put it on Facebook. All of these things are unclear to me. I\u2019d like to basically put a section on my website about MAID and the service that I offer and I don\u2019t want to promote it or put it in the paper. I just want people to refer to it if they call me and I don\u2019t have time to spend two hours explaining the different options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the lack of clarity around marketing MAID, Baker emphasized that it is the most \u201cdignified and personalized service\u201d that he has ever offered and that people should have options when it comes to making decisions about their health.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives us a certain liberty. I was interviewed by France 2 - a big television [channel] in France- because in France, MAID is almost non-existent. People are going to Belgium to get MAID so you need the means, you need the time. That\u2019s a lot of energy to go to a different country just to receive that,\u201d he highlighted. \u201cHere in Quebec, that is totally impossible because the first criteria of MAID is that you need the medical card of Quebec (which covers costs for MAID). A lot of people are looking at Quebec and Quebec is doing a lot of great things right now, but I think they need to do a lot due diligence and make things clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the individuals that helped encourage Baker to offer MAID through his funeral homes is Jos\u00e9e Poisson. Poisson worked in the health field and returned to university to do a Masters in Applied Ethics focusing on MAID after realizing how some health professionals were uncomfortable with providing the service as result of not being thoroughly informed. She personally experienced MAID with her father when he grew ill and the family went through a number of options before they found themselves at the hospital.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust before the pandemic, my father started having health problems and that\u2019s why we spoke a lot about MAID while I was doing any Master degree. When my father realized that his condition was declining and that there was no way that his situation would improve,\u00a0 <\/span>he opted to ask for medical assistance in dying,\u201d explained Poisson. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to die at home. He was living in a long-term care facility with my mother and he didn\u2019t want my mother to be reminded of him dying in the apartment. Then I thought that we could do it at my home, but my children came home and even as adults they did not want to see their grandfather die in the living-room of the house. So we found ourselves going to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the hospital staff provided her father with great care, Poisson describes hospitals as not being the \u201cbest place to have a calm and serene death.\u201d It was when she went to the Complexe Fun\u00e9raire du Haut Richelieu to establish the funeral services the family needed that she recognized the benefits of their approach and the location for MAID. She told CIDI that it was when the pandemic subsided that she contacted Baker to suggest that he open up his rooms to provide MAID when they\u2019re not in use.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we look at the statistics, there is already 1% of people that did not do MAID at the hospital or at a residence. There were already people receiving MAID in other locations. If I look at the experience of some doctors, sometimes it can be in hotel rooms and there are some people that have asked for it at the edge of the water in a place where they grew up,\u201d she noted. \u201cThis was already happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recognizing a lack of awareness surround MAID, Poisson will be providing conferences in the fall at Complexe Fun\u00e9raire Brome-Missisquoi that will be open to the general public. She emphasized that the end of life is still a significant moment and that people should have the right to choose\u00a0 - and have options - as they enter their final days.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs of now, the majority of hospitals don\u2019t have a reserved space for MAID, a separate room that\u2019s bigger and adapted. If we found ourselves in a standard hospital room with all of the noise around us, the doctors talking, the nurses talking, it\u2019s not a serene place,\u201d she said. \u201c(\u2026) Those people that are against it taking place elsewhere can still choose choose the hospital or their residence, they aren\u2019t constrained to choose a place they don\u2019t want. I just want there to be a possibility of options for people, in their final days, so they can choose the place they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dale Weil, vice-president of l\u2019Alliance des maisons de soins palliatifs du Qu\u00e9bec, expanded further on Bill 11 by explaining that palliative care homes in the province have \u201cnever been against MAID and they have always respected the wishes of their patients.\u201d However, there is one clause in Bill 11 that has presented a cause for concern for Quebec\u2019s palliative care homes. Under the new law, palliative care homes must provide MAID on-site and they cannot refuse to provide the service to an individual that seeks their help for the sole purpose of receiving MAID.<\/p>\n

More information on the amendments in Bill 11 can be found by visiting Quebec's National Assembly's website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To hear more from Baker, Poisson and Weil on Bill 11 listen to the full program below: (note -- Poisson speaks in French)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Quebec government has adopted Bill 11 – \u201cAn Act to Amend the Act Respecting End-of-Life Care and Other Legislative Provisions\u201d – after local funeral director Mathieu Baker brought the subject of medical assistance in dying (MAID) back to the attention of provincial legislators.\u00a0 Baker is the owner Complexe Fun\u00e9raire Brome-Missisquoi and Complexe Fun\u00e9raire Haut…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":167721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[223],"tags":[28330,5889,28333,460,28329,28334,8130],"radio":[246],"origine":[274,259,260],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167662"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167662"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167852,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167662\/revisions\/167852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167662"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=167662"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=167662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}