Evidence Network

Why you should start talking to your family and friends about your end-of-life wishes

Many people have been faced with having to make critical decisions for family and friends who were at the end of their lives. This can create a great deal of stress and burden as family members try to navigate the social and health care systems and succumb to their own impending loss and grief. A […]

We must speak for those who can’t

On June 6, the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision making physician-hastened death legal will come into effect. A parliamentary committee asked to help the government plot how that would roll out in Canada has made some far-reaching recommendations, well beyond what was contemplated by the court in Carter v. Canada.

Advanced directives for assisted-dying a dangerous step

The moment we are born, our lives take flight; and the longer we are airborne, the greater the chance of encountering turbulence along the way. While every flight is destined to land, some landings are harder to contemplate than others.

Assisted suicide for those with mental illness a risky proposition

Who but those who have experienced it can appreciate the soul crushing anguish of mental illness? Afflictions of the mind can be paralyzing and fundamentally change the way we perceive ourselves (I am worthless), anticipate the future (my prospects are hopeless), and experience the world (life is unfair and unforgiving). The combination of self-loathing, hopelessness and despair can tragically lead to suicide.

Why Canadians need to be having end-of-life conversations

Canadians likely had many important conversations with their loved ones over the holidays, but probably most didn’t talk about what should happen in the event they could no longer speak or make medical decisions for themselves.

Why patients at the end of life may not be receiving the best care

Our healthcare system remains focused on acute – emergency — care and the “therapeutic imperative” to fix everything we can fix when a patient is ill. But when someone is approaching the end of life, this approach may no longer be what the patient and their families need or want most.

Dying badly in Canada

A few days after the Supreme Court of Canada overturned the prohibition against medical aid in dying, I received a note from a wonderful colleague of mine saying that her closest friend’s 53 year old son had just died of spinal cancer.

Is CPR overused? When is it ok for doctors to let someone die?

Will the cost of senior care in Canada one day break the bank? Probably not, contrary to common perceptions.

When is it ok for doctors to let someone die?

The long overdue public, medical, legal and political debate on end-of-life care is now well underway in Canada. Medical journals and the general press are commenting regularly on the subject…