Category: Canada

Medical leaders grapple with new euthanasia dilemma: What to write on the death certificate

National Post

Sharon Kirkey

As Canada inches closer to granting doctors the power to end the lives of consenting patients, medical leaders are grappling with a new dilemma: should deaths by lethal injection be classified “death by natural causes” on death certificates?

Quebec’s College of Physicians is considering recommending doctors list the underlying terminal disease as the cause of death in cases of “medical aid in dying” on public death records – and not euthanasia.

The college says it wants to ensure life insurance is paid to families in cases of euthanasia and says the province’s assisted-death law will require any doctor who administers euthanasia to report the death to a special oversight body. That information will be kept confidential or shared with the college and/or the doctor’s hospital.

Euthanasia opponents are denouncing the proposal as an attempt to conceal the truth. It is also creating unease among some doctors who worry misstating death certificates could make it difficult to track how often assisted death is occurring once the practice becomes legal in Canada in February, and whether it is being performed legally. . . [Full Text]

Gaétan Barrette insists dying patients must get help to ease suffering

Quebec’s right-to-die law comes into effect on Dec. 10

The Canadian Press

Terminally ill patients in Quebec who seek medical aid in dying must be provided with the service even if some doctors are against it, Quebec’s health minister said Wednesday.

Gaétan Barrette called out unco-operative doctors and directors of institutions in the province’s health care network Wednesday after a palliative care unit in Montreal announced it wouldn’t offer the service.

Quebec’s right-to-die law comes into effect on Dec. 10 and Barrette says the patient will be the priority.

“The role of (medical) institutions is to offer the service,” he said. “And it will be offered.” . . . [Full Text]

Palliative care centres say no to medically assisted death

West Island Palliative Care Residence won’t obey Quebec’s ‘dying with dignity’ law

CBC News

The director of the West Island Palliative Care Residence says patients seeking assistance with dying will have to go elsewhere.

“We are absolutely one of the 29 [palliative care programs in Quebec] that are opting out of providing this service,” says the residence’s executive director, Theresa Dellar.

“The basic philosophy of palliative care is we do nothing to hasten death, and obviously euthanasia does hasten death. Our philosophy to provide comfort, care and dignity at the end of life and to allow for the natural process of death to take place,” she said. . . . [Full text]

Quebec MDs to get euthanasia guide to prepare for legalized assisted death

Unclear whether other provinces and territories will adopt a similar practice

The Canadian Press

Sheryl Ubelacker

The college that regulates Quebec doctors will soon provide practitioners with detailed guidelines – including what drugs to use – for euthanizing terminally ill patients who seek help to end their lives.

But it’s unclear whether other provinces and territories will adopt a similar practice when doctor-assisted death becomes legal across the country early next year.

With the passage of Bill 52 in June 2014, Quebec became the first jurisdiction in Canada to legalize medical aid in dying for mentally competent patients who meet a strict set of criteria. The law goes into effect in December, allowing physicians to begin helping patients with an incurable condition and intolerable physical or psychological suffering to die. . . [Full Text]

National Post View: On physician-assisted suicide, respect the conscience rights of all

National Post

The Supreme Court has spoken on the issue of physician-assisted suicide. Now the physicians are speaking.

According to a poll of 1,047 doctors by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), released as part of the organization’s annual general meeting in Halifax, 63 per cent would refuse to provide so-called “medical aid in dying.” Twenty-nine per cent said they would consider killing a patient upon request, with 19 per cent saying that they “would be willing to help end the life of a patient whose suffering was psychological, not physical.”

The results suggest there remains strong opposition to assisted suicide among the membership of the CMA, which until recently was officially opposed to a loosening of anti-euthanasia laws in any form. At the same time, it suggests there are enough doctors willing to aid a patient to commit suicide to serve the demand. Unfortunately, that is not enough to settle the matter of just when and how physicians will be involved. . . (Full text)