Lysanne Lessard, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Amy T. Hsu, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Peter Tanuseputro, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa, and Sampath Bemgal, University of New Brunswick
An accurate prediction of survival can enable earlier conversations about preferences and wishes at the end of life, and earlier introduction of palliative care.
A core focus of palliative care is on easing symptoms and increasing quality of life for people who have a serious or chronic illness, and not solely for those who are dying.
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The challenging realities surrounding end-of-life care are especially difficult for older people experiencing homelessness, who have more barriers to accessing hospice care.
Gaps between health systems can mean NDIS participants at the end of their lives don’t have the support of their regular NDIS support workers.
Several factors ranging from personal spiritual beliefs to patient relationships to medical legal issues can influence whether a health-care practitioner participates in providing medical assistance in dying (MAID).
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For people to access medical assistance in dying (MAID) requires health-care professionals willing to provide the service. The reasons health-care providers choose not to participate are important.
Many Australians come to the end of their life while living in aged care. But damningly, the aged care royal commission found many residents have worse palliative care options than those living elsewhere.
In a research study, 84 per cent of residents and families who received a pamphlet about end-of-life choices felt encouraged to think about their future care.
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The seriously ill and their families often want to protect each other from thoughts of death. Conversation about end-of-life choices are, however, essential to a good death.
Jean Truchon, right, looks on as lawyer Jean-Pierre Menard gives their reaction to a Québec judge overturning parts of provincial and federal laws on medically assisted dying on September 12, 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
One judge must not be allowed to curtail parliament’s power to promote broader societal interests and protect people who are elderly, ill and disabled.
Palliative radiation therapy is effective regardless of a patient’s original cancer site (for example breast, lung or kidney) and is usually delivered in one to 10 daily doses.
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Palliative radiation therapy can improve a cancer patient’s life, by alleviating pain and other symptoms. Unfortunately, some doctors associate the term with end-of-life care and fail to refer people.
A team of Canadian therapists have filed an application with Health Canada seeking permission to provide psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to patients with terminal cancer.
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Research shows therapeutic psilocybin to be a safe and effective antidote to end-of-life anxiety and depression. Does prohibition therefore violate our right to “life, liberty and security?”
The province of Nova Scotia is leading the way in defining the terms of Canada’s ambiguous law on medically assisted dying. Here Liana Brittain is seen in Halifax in front of a projection of her late husband Paul B. Couvrette, who received a medically assisted death in P.E.I. on Sept. 15, 2017.
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In Nova Scotia, it’s clearer now who qualifies for medical assistance in dying. Will the other provinces and territories follow suit?
In one study of seriously ill older Canadians, 28 per cent of participants wanted “comfort care” (meaning no curative treatments) but this was documented in only four per cent of their charts.
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Far from being lonely, some people prefer being left to die in peace.
Debbie Ziegler, mother of the late Brittany Maynard, in Sacramento in September 2015, encouraging the passage of California’s End-of-Life Options Act. Maynard, who had brain cancer, had to move to Oregon so she could end her life legally in 2014.
AP Photo/Carl Costas
People who seek aid in dying tend to be white men older than 65, a new analysis shows. While this could be due to religious views, here’s why it could also be because of lack of access.