Guidance for reporting on medical assistance in dying - Summary

The chart contains three columns. Each column represents a section of the federal reporting requirements for medical assistance in dying, or, MAID, for which there are new instructions related to reporting obligations under those sections. The three identified sections of the federal reporting requirements are:

• Section 3 - Eligibility Criteria and Other Information
  • Practitioners are encouraged to continue to respond to the question, "Had the patient's natural death become reasonably foreseeable, taking into account all of their medical circumstances?"
  • While a person's natural death being reasonably foreseeable is no longer an eligibility criterion for MAID, responses to this question will be collected to identify which safeguards a patient would fall under (i.e. safeguards designated for persons whose deaths are reasonably foreseeable and those whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable).
  • Note: The new safeguards for persons who have requested MAID and whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable will not be captured in the federal forms or online questionnaire until the new regulations come into force. However, as a matter of good medical practice and alignment with the new MAID law, practitioners should document in the patient's record (or as instructed by provincial or territorial ministries of health or regulatory bodies) how these new safeguards were satisfied.
• Section 4 - Procedural Requirements - Providing MAID
  • Practitioners must now confirm that one independent witness has signed and dated the patient's official request for MAID. The current form incorrectly specifies that two independent witnesses signed the request. Practitioners should check this requirement if they met the one witness requirement. The reason for this is that the requirement for two witnesses was removed from the law.
  • Another change under Section 4: Procedural Requirements - Providing MAID, is that practitioners are no longer required to respond to the question, "They ensured there were at least 10 clear days between the day on which the request was signed by or on behalf of the patient and the day on which MAID was provided." The reason for this is that 10-day reflection period is no longer a procedural safeguard in the law.
  • This question, as well as the follow-up question regarding the reason for shortening the 10 days, should be left blank in a paper submission, or skipped in an electronic submission. Note: The online questionnaire will allow you to skip the follow-up question if you press "Next" after receiving the "Attention" pop-up box.
• Section regarding reporting by Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians
  • Although the new law authorizes the expansion of federal reporting obligations to pharmacy technicians, those obligations only come into effect when the new regulations are in force.
  • Until then, pharmacists are asked to continue reporting as usual on the aspects of dispensing a substance for MAID that are required by the Regulations.