Jody Wilson-Raybould and Reasonably Foreseeable

natural death: The amendment, passed late Wednesday, knocks out the central pillar underpinning the government proposed new law as assisted dying, according to The Waterloo Record. It deletes the requirement that only those whose natural death is "reasonably foreseeable" should be eligible to seek medical help to end their lives. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says the Senate amendment upsets the delicate balance the government has struck in Bill C-14 between respecting personal autonomy and protecting the vulnerable. And it replaces the bill restrictive eligibility standard with the more permissive criteria set out in last year landmark Supreme Court ruling, which struck down the ban on medically assisted dying. "The amendment that was passed last night is a significant one," Wilson-Raybould said Thursday. "It will broaden the regime of medical assistance in dying in this country and we have sought to ensure that we, at every step, find the right balance that is required for such a turn in direction." Health Minister Jane Philpott said she personally concerned the amendment would mean people suffering strictly from mental illnesses would be eligible for assisted dying — a group specifically excluded in Bill C-14. "We stand by the cohesiveness, the integrity of the piece of legislation that we put forward, that strikes that balance that we believe is necessary, that has had broad public support, that has been supported in a vote in the House of Commons," Philpott said. The ministers did not explicitly say the government will formally reject the amendment, which is just the first of many the Senate is expected to pass. C-14 would allow assisted dying only for consenting adults "in an advance stage of irreversible decline' from a serious and "incurable" disease, illness or disability and for whom a natural death is "reasonably foreseeable." That more restrictive than the Supreme Court directive that medical assistance in dying should be available to clearly consenting, competent adults with "grievous and irremediable" medical conditions that are causing enduring suffering that they find intolerable. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.