TORONTO — A professor of law says death certificates should indicate when a patient's life was ended with the help of a doctor.
Jocelyn Downie of Dalhousie University in Halifax says most provinces and territories require that the immediate cause of death, as well as underlying and other causes, be stated on certificates.
Downie says the same rules should apply once assisted dying becomes legal, which will happen in February, unless the Supreme Court of Canada agrees to a federal request for a six-month extension to draft new regulations.
She says the physical consequences of an injection or consumption of lethal medications should be listed as the immediate cause of death on certificates.
The medical condition that made the person eligible for physician-assisted death would be listed as the underlying cause of death.
Downie says it's important that physician-assisted dying be listed among the causes, so national statistics can be collected to ensure the procedure is being performed as intended by the Supreme Court.
The analysis by Downie and co-author Katie Oliver was published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.