Time to Revisit the Reasonably Foreseeable Natural Death Criterion for MAiD

Speaker: Daryl Pullman, PhD , University Research Professor of Bioethics, Centre for Bioethics, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University

About This Seminar:

From the time Bill C-14 legalized access to MAiD in Canada, the RFND criterion has been a source of controversy. From the outset the criterion was interpreted liberally, leading MAiD assessors and providers to exercise their subjective judgment in considering whether those suffering from a broad range of what would normally NOT be considered terminal medical conditions, might be eligible for an assisted death. Many such individuals have been shoe horned into the RFND criterion. Consequently, in six short years Canada has become one of the most liberal regimes in the world with regard to medically assisted death. However, in the wake of the Truchon decision, Bill C-7 has ostensibly addressed the ambiguities and perceived injustices of the RFND eligibility criterion. Bill C-7 is explicit in making access to MAiD available to those NOT suffering from an RFND. Now that this ‘non-terminal’ option is available, I argue that the original RFND criterion should be revisited so as to offer more stringent objective criteria of what counts as an RFND, thus curtailing the current trend to increasingly expansive subjective assessments.

Additional Details:

The event is free and is open to the general public.

The direct link to the seminar will be sent out to registered participants 2 hours before the event. The JCB Bioethics Seminars are now being live-streamed to our YouTube channel. If you don’t receive the link 2 hours before the event, please head over there and click on the live stream. Subscribe to our channel to receive notices of upcoming events.

Questions?

Please email Terry Yuen, jcb.ea@utoronto.ca.