Advance Directives in Canada: An Ethical Imperative in a Legal Morass

Abstract

Canadian health care providers acknowledge the ethical imperative to follow patients' advance directives for medical treatment. However, fear that advance directives diminish regard for the sanctity of life and authorize euthanasia has impeded the development of the relevant Canadian law. The Criminal Code retains outdated provisions that potentially penalize health care providers who follow advance directives. Some provinces have failed to pass modern legislation that authorizes instructional advance directives. The law is disharmonized and restrictive, limiting people's rights to make advance directives and hindering health care providers from following their patients' wishes. This paper reviews the morass of Canadian laws respecting advance directives to describe the frequent disparity between the ethical imperative and the legislation. The author argues that federal and provincial politicians are obliged to modernize the law. The legislation must enable capable people to create an advance directive that suits their life values and must help health care providers to follow their patients' treatment wishes.