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posted by janrinok on Saturday September 28 2019, @06:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the MAD dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Since Canada legalized Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in 2016, as of Oct. 31, 2018, more than 6,700 Canadians have chosen medications to end their life.

Canadians who meet eligibility requirements can opt to self-administer or have a clinician administer these medications; the vast majority of people choosing MAiD have had their medications delivered by physicians or nurse practitioners. Canada is the first country to permit nurse practitioners to assess for medically assisted dying eligibility and to provide it.

The precise meaning and implications of MAiD—in particular, who can request medical assistance in dying in Canada—is still evolving through court rulings. Québec's Supreme Court recently struck down the reasonably foreseeable death requirement under the Criminal Code and the end-of-life requirement under Québec's Act Respecting End-of-Life Care.

Without the requirement of a reasonably foreseeable death, it is likely that other legal challenges will occur to extend assisted dying to other groups such as those whose sole underlying condition is severe mental illness.

Our research has explored how the nursing profession is regulating the new area of responsibility towards medically assisted dying and how nursing ethics might guide policy and practical implications of nurses' experiences.

Current legislation guards the right of health-care providers to conscientiously object to participation in MAiD. Nurses who do conscientiously object have a professional obligation to inform their employers of that objection, to report requests for MAiD, and to not abandon their clients. They also must ensure that their choices are based on "informed, reflective choice and are not based on prejudice, fear or convenience."

The nurses who surround the process of medically assisted dying are an important source of insight into the complex and nuanced conversations our society needs to have about what it is like to choose, or be involved with, this new option at the end of life, and to be involved in supporting patients and their families toward death with compassion.

Our most recent research involved interviews with 59 nurse practitioners or registered nurses across Canada who accompanied patients and families along the journey of medically assisted dying or who had chosen to conscientiously object. Nurses worked across the spectrum of care in acute, residential and home-care settings.

[...] With the changing landscape of medically assisted dying in Canada, the need for reflective conversations becomes ever more urgent. We need to better understand how medically assisted dying changes the nature of death to which we have become accustomed and how those changes impact all those involved.


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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 28 2019, @10:04PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 28 2019, @10:04PM (#900065)

    This is Canada. I assure you, doctors/nurses here aren't going to try to push people into dying, just to open up a long term bed. It's just not the way people think, or work. FYI, there's no real 'extra' health insurance here, it's all just part of your taxes.

    The biggest concerns around assisted death here, are relatives perhaps wanting it to end quicker. For money.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 28 2019, @10:21PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 28 2019, @10:21PM (#900070)

    I might want to add, as typical, Quebec was first on this. When it comes to certain types of social issues .. Quebec is always first. I'm not saying it's the perfect place to live, its economy sure sucks at times, and of course there's all the french :P, but I suppose that's the price for 'people first'.

    To highlight this, when this issue first came up, Quebec held public debates. Debates all across Quebec. In town halls of the smallest village, or largest cities, a provincial inquiry setup panels. People were asked to come and discuss. Talk. Give their opinion. We're talking even the smallest towns, in the most far flung rural regions of Quebec. That same panel the collected all of those opinions, presented them.

    Frankly, it was one of the most democratic things I've ever seen.

    • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @12:22AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @12:22AM (#900109)

      Let's be clear tho, "people first" means we as a society will rather sacrifice yachts for our millionaires than homelessness and starvation for those of us unwise enough not to choose rich parents.

      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @01:07AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @01:07AM (#900121)

        What on earth are you babbling on about, heh. Canada is one of the most egalitarian societies on the planet. Your family can be dirt poor, and you'll still see University -- via grants, not loans. And our Universities don't bankrupt you, unlike other places.

        But I guess you're not just responding to two words, with inane blather, without first researching the tax system, the grants system, bonuses given for kids, the list goes on. Right?

        Troll much?