What Margot Bentley taught us about end of life care

Margot Bentley died last week. She worked as a nurse, and among the requests she made of her family over the years was to not keep her alive by machinery. Her Living Will, made in 1991, stated that.

As fate had it, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1999, and moved to a care facility. As her health deteriorated, her family sought to follow her wishes to end her life, but the staff would not agree to it. The family chose to proceed to Court, and the now-famous case went to the Court of Appeal last year.

The Court decided against ending Ms. Bentley’s life, in part because her Living Will was not in a proper form; she died without having made a Representation Agreement.

Now that we have the new (provincial) legislation permitting people to make Advance Directives and Representation Agreements, in a recognized format, anyone concerned with how they wish to end their lives should make one.

This ad ran in the Richmond News on Nov. 18, 2016.