{"id":4447,"date":"2019-09-13T17:28:06","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T17:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=4447"},"modified":"2019-09-20T15:42:29","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T15:42:29","slug":"webcast-archive-quebec-court-decides-truchon-gladu-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2019\/09\/webcast-archive-quebec-court-decides-truchon-gladu-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast archive: Qu\u00e9bec court decides Truchon\/Gladu case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1180\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K2uW00Ibh7s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this episode of\u00a0<em>Euthanasia &amp; Disability<\/em>, Amy Hasbrouck, Christian Debray, and Taylor Hyatt discuss:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Qu\u00e9bec court decides Truchon\/Gladu case<\/li>\n<li>Dutch doctor acquitted in euthanasia of woman with dementia<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please note that this text is only a script and that our webcast contains additional commentary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>QU\u00c9BEC COURT DECIDES TRUCHON\/GLADU CASE<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>A Qu\u00e9bec superior court has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/life\/health-and-fitness\/article-quebec-court-strikes-down-parts-of-laws-on-medically-assisted-death\/\">ruled unconstitutional<\/a>\u00a0the portion of the federal MAiD law that limits eligibility to people whose natural death has become reasonably foreseeable, and the requirement in Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s euthanasia law that the person must be at the \u201cend of life.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>In a 186-page decision, Judge Christine Beaudoin confused the plaintiffs\u2019 physical limitations with an inability to live independently, by ignoring the public policy that limits their choice by preferring institutional over consumer directed in-home personal assistance services.\u00a0 Nor did the court mention Canada\u2019s obligation under article 19 of the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities to provide services to enable disabled people to live independently in the community.<\/li>\n<li>The Truchon\/Gladu decision brings to mind the 2012 British Columbia Trial Court ruling in the\u00a0Carter case, which was a foundation of the Supreme Court\u2019s decision to overturn the ban on assisted suicide and euthanasia.<\/li>\n<li>We haven\u2019t finished reading the entire decision, so a more detailed analysis will have to wait.\u00a0 We offer some initial thoughts.<\/li>\n<li>The judge placed great confidence in doctors\u2019 ability not only to assess medical eligibility, but also a person\u2019s decision-making capacity and the impact of social and economic pressures on MAiD requests.\u00a0 This adherence to the \u201cmedical model\u201d of disability, which sites the \u201cproblem\u201d of disability with the individual while ignoring society\u2019s responsibility to accommodate the full range of humanity, is a setback for the disability rights movement.<\/li>\n<li>However the court failed to question why pain management techniques were ineffective for the plaintiffs, nor the fact that palliative care is often unavailable or inadequate.<\/li>\n<li>The Court applies a \u201cpresumption of competence\u201d to the plaintiffs\u2019 request for euthanasia, saying \u201clike any other able and knowledgeable person, persons with disabilities may have a rational and legitimate desire to end their lives, given their condition.\u201d In fact, when \u201cany other\u201d non-disabled person expresses a wish to die, it is not considered a \u201crational and legitimate desire to end their lives,\u201d but rather evidence of suicidality, if not incompetence.\u00a0 We believe the court is applying a discriminatory double standard that limits access to suicide prevention services for people with disabilities.<\/li>\n<li>The court distinguishes the plaintiffs by their physical limitations, poorly-managed pain, and their dependence.\u00a0 Though all of these factors are directly related to disability, they are caused by inadequate medical care, discriminatory social policies, and attitudes about disability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>DUTCH DOCTOR ACQUITTED IN EUTHANASIA OF WOMAN WITH DEMENTIA<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>A Dutch doctor was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/health\/dutch-court-clears-doctor-in-landmark-euthanasia-trial-1.4587922\">cleared of wrongdoing<\/a>\u00a0in the euthanasia death of a 74-year-old woman with dementia.<\/li>\n<li>As we\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/11\/webcast-archive-first-euthanasia-prosecution-in-the-netherlands\/\">reported last year<\/a>, officials in the Netherlands brought charges against a doctor who performed euthanasia on a woman who had signed an advance directive requesting euthanasia several years previously, but was giving mixed signals about her desire to die when she was given the lethal injection.\u00a0 In addition, the doctor put a sedative in the woman\u2019s coffee, and had family members hold her down as she struggled against the injection.<\/li>\n<li>Judges in the Hague said the doctor met all criteria, though prosecutors alleged she made insufficient efforts to verify that the woman wanted to die.\u00a0 The advance directive stated that the woman wanted to die \u201cwhenever I think the time is right.\u201d In the weeks leading up to the euthanasia, witnesses testified the woman stated \u201cnot just now, it\u2019s not so bad yet.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Prosecutors are deciding whether to appeal the ruling.<\/li>\n<li>The ruling establishes the legal principle that an advance directive will be taken as a binding statement of a person\u2019s wishes, should the person later be deemed incompetent to make decisions for themselves.\u00a0 Activists believe such policies pose a danger to people who, upon adapting to a disability, are satisfied to live with a disability. Thus, people with dementia are not allowed to change their minds, should they decide that life with a disability is not, in fact, a fate worse than death.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nOur initial thoughts on the Truchon\/Gladu case, and an update on the Dutch doctor in the &#8220;coffee incident.&#8221;\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2019\/09\/webcast-archive-quebec-court-decides-truchon-gladu-case\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: Qu\u00e9bec court decides Truchon\/Gladu case&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2019\/09\/webcast-archive-quebec-court-decides-truchon-gladu-case\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: Qu\u00e9bec court decides Truchon\/Gladu case&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[121,583,418,53,582,118],"class_list":["post-4447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-euthanasia-disability","tag-gladu-en","tag-netherlands","tag-quebec-en","tag-truchon-en","tag-webcast","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4447"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4459,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4447\/revisions\/4459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}