Overview
- Alberta MAID clinicians published a signed opinion opposing Bill 18 and offered to brief the legislative committee reviewing it.
- The bill would confine eligibility to people judged to be in their final 12 months of life and introduce mandates and sanctions that clinicians say would curb professional judgment.
- Doctors warn the change would shut out many with chronic or slowly progressive illnesses, with dementia patients singled out as likely to lose access once they lose decision-making capacity.
- Supporters writing in the Calgary Herald back Bill 18 as a way to stop so‑called Track 2 MAID for people who are not near death, calling the current pathway discriminatory and urging Ottawa to repeal it.
- Clinicians also say dismantling care coordination and tighter referral rules would deepen gaps in access, especially for rural and marginalized patients, while people with more resources could seek services elsewhere.