When the top court struck down the ban on assisted dying, it gave Parliament a year, later extended by four months, to craft a new law. Other amendments are expected to propose allowing advance requests for assisted dying for those diagnosed with competence-eroding conditions like dementia and explicit protection for the conscience rights of health care providers who refuse to provide assistance in dying. Read full column…The amendment replaces the eligibility criteria in the bill with the much more permissive criteria set out in last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling, which struck down the ban on assisted dying. RelatedAnother option would be for the Senate to refuse to pass the bill until the government refers it to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality, Joyal said. The Senate is expected to continue debating the bill and voting on other amendments into next week.

Source: National Post June 09, 2016 02:59 UTC