Canadians 65 years and older now outnumber children 14 years and under, which means our needs as a society are changing. We are succeeding in shifting the aging curve through preventive interventions and better public health — that’s good news. But the changing demographic is causing strains in our health and social care supports. How […]
Governments need to start investing in care navigators to ensure equitable access to publicly funded services and supports A version of this commentary appeared in the Toronto Star, Huffington Post and Windsor Star It’s a fact: the Canadian population is aging. For the first time in history, Canadians 65 years and over outnumber those 14 […]
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.
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.
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.
This week, the Supreme Court of Canada has been hearing an appeal by the BC Civil Liberties Association that could grant terminally ill Canadians the right to assisted suicide. With this impending ruling and the passing of Bill 52 in Quebec (Medical Aid in Dying) and rumblings from parliament of another private members bill on assisted suicide, Canada is at a crossroads.
Palliative care doctors who see dying differently. Most seniors say they want to die at home. However, about half of seniors are dying in hospitals, according to research by Verena Menec, the Director of the University of Manitoba’s Centre on Aging. She says many of these patients don’t need to die in the hospital. They […]
The last time I was in Israel, I went on some home visits with a palliative care physician in the town of Sfat near the Sea of Galilee. My colleague, a devout Jewish doctor, took me to several homes to offer advice on managing his most serious, terminally ill patients. One older Chassidic Rabbi was dealing with an advanced lung cancer, and having a difficult time accepting any kind of help from his young adult children.
Advance care planning is a process of reflection and communication about personal care preferences in the event that an individual becomes incapable of consenting to or refusing treatment or other care. The most important aspects of advance care planning are choosing one or more Substitute Decision Makers — someone who will speak on the individuals’ behalf and make decisions for them if they are not able to do so themselves.
