Act Respecting End-of-Life Care

Medical aid in dying is a care that consists in the administration of medication by a competent professional (physician or specialized nurse practitioner) to a person, at their request, in order to relieve their suffering by hastening their death.

The Act Respecting End-of-Life Care allows two types of requests for medical aid in dying, namely, a contemporaneous request and an advance request.

A contemporaneous request for medical aid in dying is made to receive the care in the short term.

An advance request for medical aid in dying is made to receive the care after the person has become incapable of giving consent to care due to a serious and incurable illness leading to the incapacity to consent to care (e.g., Alzheimer's disease).

No one other than the person who wants to receive medical aid in dying may request it on their behalf. Furthermore, to receive aid, the person must absolutely meet all the criteria set out in the Act Respecting End-of-Life Care.

Any person, whether at the end of life or not, has the right to refuse a care or to request that a care be stopped. For example, they have the right to stop chemotherapy or refuse surgery. Refusing or stopping treatment does not affect the person's right to receive end-of-life care.

To receive care, any person must freely give their informed consent to health or social services professionals. When a person becomes incapable of giving consent to care, they can no longer make decisions regarding the care that health status requires. In this case, someone else may consent to care on their behalf. This someone can be their legal representative (mandatary or tutor), a close relative (such as a spouse), or a person who can demonstrate that they have a particular interest in them. Under all circumstances, this person must act in the person’s best interests and, to the extent possible, comply with the wishes that the person expressed when they were capable of doing so.

People requesting medical aid in dying cannot ask others to represent them for this care.

Any person, whether at the end of life or not, has the right to express their wishes for care in the event of incapacity to consent to care. They can do this by:

• verbally informing their close relations of their wishes for care
• writing a living or biological will
• writing down their wishes on a sheet of paper, dating it and signing it
• recording a video in which they express their wishes
• making a protection mandate
• expressing their wishes in a discussion with a physician, who will record them in a levels of care and cardiopulmonary resuscitation form
• expressing their wishes through advance medical directives

However, a request for medical aid in dying cannot be made by these means. A request for medical aid in dying, whether it is a contemporaneous request or an advance request, must be made in accordance with specific requirements and using the form provided for this purpose.

The person and their close relatives can, at any time, file a complaint regarding care or service received in the health and social services network with the local service quality and complaints commissioner, or regarding care or service received from a physician outside the health and social services network with the Collège des médecins du Québec. Complaints relating to end-of-life care will be dealt with as a priority.