Country Correspondent: Aisha Gomez and Roosa Tikkanen
Since passage of the 2015 End of Life Law, access to physician-assisted end-of-life care has dramatically increased across Quebec. By April 2019, more than 1,600 residents had received such assistance, and the number of people seeking assistance increased by 73 percent between 2016 and 2017 alone. In general, the law is viewed as socially acceptable, with cancer patients receiving most of the care (78 percent). Yet access to services remains unequal, with some arguing that individuals suffering from persistent pain but not facing foreseeable death should also qualify for assistance. A legal challenge seeks to clarify how institutions interpret the law.
