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Canada has proposed an assisted-suicide law that will apply only to Canadians and residents, meaning Americans will not be able to travel north of the border to die. Visitors will be excluded under the legislation introduced Thursday, precluding the prospect of “suicide tourism.” Canadian government officials said that to use the proposed law, a person would have to be eligible for health services in Canada.

The bill provides a choice “for adults who are suffering intolerably and for whom death is reasonably foreseeable.” It says the person must be mentally competent, 18 or older, have a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability, and be in an advanced state of irreversible decline of capability.

Canada’s Supreme Court last year struck down laws that bar doctors from helping someone die, but it put the ruling on hold while the government came up with a new law. The proposed law requires approval in Parliament, but it is expected to pass as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government controls the majority of seats.

Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, Germany, Albania, Colombia, Japan and the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana. California lawmakers also have passed legislation, which is expected to take effect in June and requires proof of California residency. Anne Singer, a spokeswoman for Compassion and Choices, a nonprofit organization that promotes assisted-suicide laws, said all U.S. states with such laws have residency requirements.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/canadas-new-assisted-suicide-legislation-doesnt-apply-to-visitors/2016/04/14/66ee6dda-0264-11e6-b823-707c79ce3504_story.html