People are afraid of palliative care; many refuse early referral, which results in protracted and avoidable pain and suffering. Some even suspect that pain medication might inadvertently hasten their death (it will not). Requiring palliative care services to include medical assistance in dying would do little to assuage those fears.
Continue Reading → We must speak for those who can’t
Beautiful article by Pr Catherine Frazee about vulnerability. “To be vulnerable, quite simply, is to be without defence.”
Continue Reading → “The Vulnerable”: Who Are They
Quebec’s debate over physician-assisted death may have contributed to the ambiguity. “It’s possible it has confused doctors a little bit. Patients are being given the right to no longer live, and doctors are even being asked to help them in certain cases.”
Continue Reading → Some Quebec doctors let suicide victims die though treatment was available
Cristina Alarcon, a Vancouver pharmacist, talks about freedom of conscience and the illusion of “pure autonomy”.
Continue Reading → How did we shift from kill the pain to kill the patient
Esentially all disabilities can be included in the open-ended criteria for access.
Continue Reading → Assisted dying report goes beyond scope, ignores evidence