The debate over medically assisted death in Quebec is heating up again.
A 60 year old woman with Alzheimer's Disease was allegedly killed by her husband last month. He has said he no longer wanted to see his wife suffer. The family says the woman had requested assistance from a doctor in dying but had been refused.
Health minister Gaétan Barrette says he's looking at the possibility of making changes to the law, but says it's tough to determine where the line should be drawn. Barrette says an end-of-life care commission will look at cases that have been refused medically assisted death. There are also calls to include "advanced consent" in the law, meaning those with a degenerative disease can request doctor-assisted death while they still have the mental capacity to do so.
Justice minister Stephanie Vallée will also be asked to examine legal grey zones, primarily on defining what constitutes a reasonably foreseeable death.
Parti Quebecois MNA Véronique Hivon, who helped get the bill passed in the National Assembly, says she's pleased with the government on bringing the debate back to the forefront.
Barrette says any changes to the law would only be proposed next year at the earliest.