Category: Canada

West Island Palliative Care Residence clarifies care it offers following passage of Quebec’s end-of-life legislation

Hospice statement 5 June following passage of euthansia law in Quebec

Will continue to provide care and comfort to terminally ill but will NOT act to hasten natural process of death

For immediate release

KIRKLAND, Quebec – June 5, 2014 – In light of the passage today by the National Assembly of new Quebec end-of-life legislation, the West Island Palliative Care Residence wishes to clarify that the new legislation will not change in any way the services it provides to terminally ill patients.

The Residence will continue to act in the way it always has – to provide the best possible care and comfort, including symptom relief to the dying but without taking any actions that hasten the natural process of death.

The new Quebec legislation permits, under certain conditions, Quebec health institutions and health professionals to provide “medical aid in dying” – the administration of drugs or other actions to intentionally cause the death of a patient. The legislation also permits any health professional as well as “palliative care hospices,” of which the West Island Palliative Care Residence is one, the option to choose not to do so, provided patients are informed that this is the case.

The West Island Palliative Care Residence has chosen to exercise this option and to make no change to the type and methods of care it delivers, meaning it will not take actions that intentionally cause a patient’s death.

“The goal of good palliative care is never to hasten the end of life,” said Teresa Dellar, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Residence. “We make the last days of life as comfortable and pain-free as possible so patients can live them in the best possible manner.” In fact, she noted, good palliative care from early on in a terminal illness has been shown in clinical studies to both extend patients’ lives and improve their quality of life.

“If we as a society are going to offer more choices to patients at the end of life, as this legislation does, then we must ensure one of those choices is ready access to high-quality palliative care in the patient’s community, as we offer at our Residence,” continued Ms. Dellar. “If quality palliative care is available, few will choose to end their lives prematurely. We can’t allow the premature ending of lives to become a substitute for our responsibility to provide compassionate care and symptom relief at the end of life.”

The West Island Palliative Care Residence will be changing its application forms and information for patients and families to comply with the new legislation and make it clear to them that the Residence will not provide the intentional end-of-life services now permitted.

About palliative care

Palliative care does not hasten death – as do euthanasia and assisted suicide – but ensures it is as comfortable, dignified and pain-free as possible. It is a conservative estimate that palliative care could be useful in more than half of Canadian deaths, or more than 125,000 patients per year. As proportionately fewer Canadians die suddenly or quickly from accidents or acute illnesses, more face end of life with chronic illnesses or diseases such as cancer that can extend over a relatively long period of time. Many dying patients end up in hospital ERs during the last weeks of life, an indicator of poor-quality end-of-life care and a very expensive and unsatisfactory alternative to palliative care.

About the West Island Palliative Care Residence

The West Island Palliative Care Residence is an independent, community-based, non-profit institution, accredited by the Quebec government to provide end-of-life palliative care services to residents of the West Island of Montreal. The Residence allows terminally ill patients to die in comfort and with dignity in a warm, home-like environment, close to their family, and in their community. It is not part of or affiliated with any hospital or health institution and services are provided without charge. The Residence has 23 beds in two pavilions, making it the largest freestanding palliative care residence in Canada. Since opening in 2002, the Residence has welcomed more than 2,500 patients in the final stages of ALS, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as 10,000 of their family members. To learn more, visit ww.wipcr.ca

For more information:
Joanne Myers, Director of Development
Tel.: 514 693-1718, ext. 234
Mobile: 514 978-0793

Physicians and the Ontario Human Rights Code

The following post is from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the state regulatory authority for the practice of medicine in the province:

The College’s Physicians and the Ontario Human Rights Code policy is currently being reviewed. This policy sets out physicians’ legal obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code (the Code) and the College’s expectations that physicians will respect the fundamental rights of those who seek their medical services. It aims to assist the profession in understanding its existing legal and professional obligations, and provide physicians with guidance about how to comply with these obligations in everyday practice.

View the current policy

To assist with this review, we are inviting feedback from all stakeholders, including members of the medical profession, the public, health system organizations and other health professionals on the current policy. Comments received during this preliminary consultation will assist the College in updating the policy. When a revised draft is developed, it will be recirculated for further comment before it is finalized by Council.

Submissions must be received by 5 August, 2014.

See the full notice on the College website.  It includes a “quickpoll” survey asking visitors to vote for or against freedom of conscience for physicians.

Medical marijuana and conscience rights

The Interim

Paula Kosalka

Some Canadian physicians are anxious that regulatory changes will pressure doctors to prescribe marijuana. Dr. William Pope, the registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, told the Winnipeg Free Press in January that the college is worried that federal reforms will lead more patients to ask doctors for marijuana. “As far as most of us are concerned, there is really no appropriate prescribing,” he said.

Physicians are now permitted to dispense marijuana with the approval of the province. Patients applying for marijuana access no longer have to submit personal health information to Health Canada. It is also easier for individuals with less serious conditions to get medical marijuana. Pot users will not be able to grow their own marijuana anymore, but will have to buy it from commercial growers licensed by the federal government. On April 1, the new rules came into effect. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, officials predict that the number of cannabis users across the country could rise from 37,000 to 450,000 by 2024 as a result. – [Full text]

Professor argues for a profound rethinking of conscience rights

Mary Anne Waldron offers three solutions for legal quagmires

The B.C. Catholic

Alistair Burns

An argument in favour of changing how citizens approach freedom of conscience and religion was presented May 2. Mary Anne Waldron, a professor of law at the University of Victoria, spoke to an audience of 80 in Holy Name of Jesus Parish Hall in Vancouver.

Her lecture was the first event co-hosted by the Catholic Physicians’ Guild of the Archdiocese of Vancouver and the St. Thomas More Catholic Lawyers Guild.

She asked the crowd to ponder why “we protect conscientious and religious freedom, when it is so often inconvenient, may seem unfair, and often offends others.”

The law professor declared perhaps many would prefer a world “in which our (specific) view prevailed” on major legal problems: abortion, euthanasia, and sexual moral codes.

Freedom of conscience and religion rights, she asserted, should allow the participation of all citizens in debates on social policies and norms, “protecting the minority against tyranny by the majority.” [Full Text]

Canadian assisted suicide/euthanasia bill lacks protection of conscience provision

Member of Parliament Steven Fletcher has introduced Bill C581 in the Canadian House of Commons, a private member’s bill to legalize physician assisted suicide and euthanasia.  He has also introduced Bill C582 to establish a Canadian Commission on Physician Assisted Death, a body that would “produce public information on physician-assisted death and to support law and policy reform with respect to physician-assisted death.”  Bill C581 does not include a protection of conscience clause for physicians or health care workers who refuse to participate in euthanasia or assisted suicide for reasons of conscience.  Due to Canadian rules of parliamentary procedure and unwillingness of the governing party to revisit the issues, it is highly unlikely that the bills will come to a vote.