The Confederation of Disabled People’s Organizations of Quebec (COPHAN) and the Regroupement des activities pour l’inclusion au Québec (RAPLIQ) are disappointed that they were not included as part of the expert group set up by Minister Sonia Bélanger that will look at the concept of neuromotor disability, far from reaching consensus in the context of Bill 11.
However, these groups are often on the front lines when people with disabilities are let down by the system and have relevant and precise expertise on the concept of disability.
The composition of the committee, announced yesterday, includes physicians, professors, civil servants, users and the Quebec Office for the Disabled (OPHQ). The Committee does not rely on advocacy groups such as COPHAN or RAPLIQ. Experience-based expertise is essential in a matter as sensitive as end-of-life care.
medical help to live
COPHAN and RAPLIQ presented their briefs to the Citizen Relations Committee on March 28 and 29, 2023 as part of the study on Bill 11, primarily related to expanding end-of-care coverage in Quebec. They offer medical assistance to live (AMV) before dying. They want to bring their skills to this very sensitive debate to avoid possible abuse.
COPHAN and many of its members, including RAPLIQ, believe that medical assisted suicide (MAD) cannot be a solution to make up for our healthcare system’s deficiencies, its inefficiency and even its many dysfunctions.
In fact, under all circumstances, respect for the person and human dignity must be uncompromising. For COPHAN and RAPLIQ, there is no question that medical euthanasia can be extended to people with a neuromotor disability or to other future diagnoses. It makes no sense to allow people to have medical euthanasia because of a lack of services. In our opinion, early use of medical euthanasia can also take place under conditions that are yet to be defined in more detail.
In the case of pain and agonizing death, suffering should be the dominant factor in deciding to offer MAID for all disabilities.
Quebec now responds to more MA requests than Belgium and the Netherlands. Between April 2021 and March 2022, the procedure legalized in 2015 accounted for 5.1% of deaths in the province. A further increasing trend.
Would
For years, everyone has known that Quebec’s health care system is broken, hypercentralized, and far removed from the hearts and humanity of the people it was originally meant to serve.
We remain deeply concerned about the living conditions imposed on people with disabilities and physical dependencies. They languish in conditions that are often scandalous, and Quebec society must recognize that this type of situation undermines their dignity.
It is embarrassing to propose the expansion of medical assistance to dying in Quebec, which is already at the forefront of the world in this area, while having one of the most expensive and most inaccessible health and social services in the world’s most developed societies. People with disabilities want to live.
Paul Lupian, President of COPHAN
Linda Gautier, Principal advisor and co-founder of RAPLIQ
