More than 600 cases of doctor-assisted death in Quebec in 2016-17
MONTREAL — Quebecers are increasingly asking about having the province’s doctor-assisted suicide law expanded, the woman behind the legislation said Thursday.
Veronique Hivon of the Parti Quebecois said “a lot of people” approach her about modifying the law to allow family members with degenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s access to the procedure.
Hivon was reacting to the Health Department’s latest numbers released Thursday that reveal Quebec doctors assisted 638 people in dying between June 10, 2016, and June 9, 2017.
The number is a significant increase compared with the 167 people who received a doctor-assisted death in the first six months after the law went into effect in December 2015.