Alberta’s new bill on medically assisted death could dramatically change the use of euthanasia in the province—and set off a new phase in Canada’s highly controversial assisted dying regime.
Premier Danielle Smith’s government introduced a bill on March 18 that it said would “strengthen protections for vulnerable Albertans” and ensure medical assistance in dying (MAID) is not used “when other care and treatment options are available.”
At the core of the bill is a provision limiting MAID to those whose natural death is foreseeable within 12 months. The bill would effectively end “Track 2” MAID, or cases in which the patient is suffering but not near death. Track 1, by contrast, applies to cases where death is foreseeable….