The Canadian government has introduced a long-awaited bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide.

The measure limits the option to the incurably ill, requires medical approval and mandates a 15-day waiting period.

More than a year ago, Canada's Supreme Court struck down a ban on assisted suicide and instructed the legislature to write a new law. The newly unveiled legislation, which is being advocated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , needs to pass the House of Commons and the Senate to become law.

The bill introduced Thursday lays out the conditions under which some people would be able to obtain a doctor's help in dying. A patient must:

  • Be eligible for government-funded health care (a requirement limiting assisted suicides to Canadians and permanent residents, to prevent suicide tourism ).
  • Be a mentally competent adult 18 or older.
  • Have a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability.
  • Be in an "advanced state of irreversible decline," with enduring and intolerable suffering.
  • Have a "reasonably foreseeable" natural death (though no specific timeline is required).

Then, reports NPR's Dan Karpenchuk, "a written request would be needed, signed by two independent witnesses — and there would have to be more than one medical evaluation and a mandatory 15-day waiting period."
Dan says it's widely expected that the proposed bill will face opposition from two directions — from those who object to physician-assisted suicide at all, and those who think the law doesn't go far enough in granting people the right to die.

The law was written after Trudeau assembled a special committee to examine the issue and write a report recommending how Canada could best legislate physician-assisted suicide.

The Supreme Court had originally given a one-year deadline for such a law, The New York Times reports , but the previous Conservative government didn't make much progress. The court extended the deadline when Trudeau's Liberal party took over, and legislators have until June to pass a law.

The issue is personal for Trudeau, as he told the CBC radio show "As It Happens" in February.

Trudeau's father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, died in 2000; he had prostate cancer and Parkinson's disease.

The prime minister says his father would have liked to end his life with dignity.

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