Government of Canada Releases the Model Practice Standard for Medical Assistance in Dying to Ensure Consistent and Safe Practice in Canada

OTTAWA, ON, March 27, 2023 /CNW/ - Medical assistance in dying (MAID) remains a complex and deeply personal issue for many Canadians. The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that the practice of MAID balances laws that give autonomy and freedom of choice for Canadians, a system that provides strong safeguards that protect those who may be vulnerable, and a process that guarantees compassionate and diligent consideration of every request for MAID.

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, released the Model Practice Standard for MAID. The Model Practice Standard and accompanying documents will help clinicians align their practice with clear guidance and will assist regulators to ensure the protection of the public in the context of complex cases, including where the person's sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness.

The Model Practice Standard is designed to ensure that MAID practice in Canada can operate in a consistent and safe manner across the country. The Model Practice Standard was developed by a task group of clinical, legal and regulatory experts in response to the first recommendation in the report of the Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness.

The Government of Canada is also supporting the development of an accredited Canadian MAID curriculum to support clinician education and training, which will address topics related to the assessment and provision of MAID including mental disorders and other complex chronic conditions. The Model Practice Standard, along with the MAID training curriculum, will provide valuable resources for regulators and practitioners in interpreting and applying the legislative framework safely in different clinical situations.

Today's announcement marks yet another step in the work by all levels of government to ensure the health care system is ready for when MAID requests by people suffering solely from a mental illness will become eligible as of March 17, 2024.

Quotes

"Medical assistance in dying is a complex and deeply personal issue for many Canadians.  Important progress has been made in preparing for the extension of MAID eligibility for persons whose sole medical condition is a mental illness. The Model Practice Standard for MAID is another step and will provide clear guidance to clinicians and health professional regulators, help protect those who may be vulnerable, including where the person's sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness, and ensure  the safety and consistency in MAID practice across the country."

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Health

"Releasing the Model MAID Practice Standard is another important measure we are taking to ensure a careful and considered approach to the implementation of MAID for people living with a mental illness. Our government will continue to listen and work with experts, those with lived experience, and with our provincial and territorial counterparts to ensure that the safety and security of vulnerable populations remains at the forefront of our actions for this deeply personal issue."

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health

"Physician and Nurse Regulators occupy a central leadership role in Canada's MAID system, having the responsibility and authority to guide MAID clinicians towards safe practice in the public interest. The Model Practice Standard and accompanying documents were developed through a careful process of consultation with regulators, professional associations, and researchers. These resources, which realize several key recommendations of the Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness, are intended to assist regulators in their vitally important work."

Dr. Mona Gupta
Psychiatrist, Chair of the MAID Practice Standards Task Group; Chair of the Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness

"The Model MAID Practice Standard puts regulators in a place of readiness. When the law changes, the public and the health professions involved will have clear regulatory direction regarding the eligibility, assessment, and provision of MAID."

Dr. D.A. (Gus) Grant
Registrar and CEO, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia

Quick Facts

• On March 17, 2021, the revised legislation on MAID (former Bill C-7) received Royal Assent and became law. Former Bill C-7 expanded eligibility to MAID to individuals whose death is not reasonably foreseeable and strengthened the safeguards for these applicants. Among other changes, the Bill allowed eligibility for persons suffering solely from a mental illness. However, eligibility for those persons was temporary delayed to March 17, 2024 to allow time to consider the Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness' conclusions and recommendations, as well as the findings of the parliamentary Special Joint Committee on MAID.
• On May 13, 2022, the final report of the Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness' final report was tabled in Parliament. The report sets out 19 recommendations for establishing a MAID regime that addresses questions that may arise in some MAID requests, and particularly where the natural death of the person requesting MAID is not reasonably foreseeable. This includes questions of incurability, irreversibility, capacity, suicidality and the impact of structural vulnerabilities (structural vulnerabilities being the effects of interactions between a person's sex, gender, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sexuality or institutional location, with one's position in society).
• On June 22, 2022, the parliamentary Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying released an interim report. On the question of MAID and mental illness, the Special Joint Committee heard from various expert witnesses, including legal experts, palliative care providers, MAID practitioners, physicians, nurse practitioners, psychiatrists and the chair of the independent Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness.
• On December 15, 2022, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Minister of Health, and the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health announced the Government of Canada's intention to introduce legislation in early 2023 to extend the temporary exclusion of eligibility for persons suffering solely from a mental illness beyond March 17, 2023. The introduction of Bill C-39 responds to this commitment. On March 9, 2023, Bill C-39 received Royal Assent and immediately came into force. This legislation extended the temporary exclusion of eligibility for persons suffering solely from a mental illness to March 17, 2024.
• On February 15, 2023, the parliamentary Special Joint Committee on MAID released its final report. The Government of Canada is currently reviewing the findings and recommendations, and will table its response by June 15, 2023.
• On March 9, 2023, the eligibility date for MAID for persons suffering solely from a mental illness was officially changed to March 17, 2024. This change was done through former Bill C-39, introduced in February 2023.

Related Links

• Backgrounder: Final Report of the Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness
• Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness Final Report
• Canada's medical assistance in dying (MAID) law
• Eligibility for medical assistance in dying for persons suffering solely from mental illness extended to March 17, 2024

SOURCE Health Canada

Guillaume Bertrand, Senior Communications Advisor and Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, 613-957-0200; Media Relations, Health Canada, 613-957-2983, [email protected]; Maja Staka, Senior Communications Advisor and Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, 613-957-0200; Public Enquiries: 613-957-2991, 1-866-225-0709