Bill 18: Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act

This bill primarily affects health care practitioners — physicians and nurse practitioners — as well as operators of hospitals, continuing care homes, supportive living accommodations, and clinics across Alberta. Practitioners who provide or assess patients for MAID will need to go through a new provincial approval process via a care coordination service before they can offer these services, and they must meet new documentation and consultation requirements with prior care providers. Health care facility operators — whether running a private clinic, a continuing care home, or a hospital — gain the explicit right to refuse MAID on their premises, but if they exercise that right, they trigger mandatory exclusion zones and referral obligations. Regulated health professionals of all kinds, including pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, face serious disciplinary consequences — up to permanent practice restrictions or permit cancellation — for breaches of the new rules.