The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER—Canada’s physician-assisted dying law is being challenged in court just days after it came into force.
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association says a woman suffering from a degenerative disease affecting muscle movement is joining the association in a legal fight to be announced today in Vancouver.
Critics of Bill C-14 oppose its requirements that a doctor’s help only can be given if death is “reasonably foreseeable” and the patient is in an advanced state of irreversible decline.
Dr. Ellen Wiebe said she was preparing to help a woman who qualified under the Supreme Court of Canada’s definition of the law, but adoption of the more restrictive Bill C-14 ended those plans.
Just three days before the woman’s intended death, Wiebe said she was informed Friday that she could be prosecuted for taking part.
