Quebec set to become first jurisdiction in N. America to allow euthenasia

Quebec’s National Assembly is set to begin final adoption next week of a law that will legalize euthanasia in the province, making it the first jurisdiction in North America to allow physicians to deliberately end patients’ lives.

And as Bill 52 moves forward with support across party lines and among a majority of Quebecers, the province’s College of Physicians is already envisaging a day when some of the bill’s restrictions on euthanasia will need to be loosened.

“This bill, as it is right now, it’s probably a landmark but surely not the end of the reflection,” said Yves Robert, secretary of the College, which supports the bill. “It’s only a step. There are many questions that are still unanswered.”

As Quebecers become accustomed to doctors administering lethal injections to dying patients, the questions will not be about who is receiving euthanasia but who is being denied it, Dr. Robert said.