Assisted suicide Archives - Page 3 of 11 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

Deceased organ and tissue donation after medical assistance in dying and other conscious and competent donors: guidance for policy

James Downar, Sam D. Shemie, Clay Gillrie, Marie-Chantal Fortin, Amber Appleby, Daniel Z. Buchman, Christen Shoesmith, Aviva Goldberg, Vanessa Gruben, Jehan Lalani, Dirk Ysebaert, Lindsay Wilson and Michael D. Sharpe

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

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Key Points

First-person consent for organ donation after medical assistance in dying (MAiD) or withdrawal of life-sustaining measures (WLSM) should be an option in jurisdictions that allow MAiD or WLSM and donation after circulatory determination of death.
The most important ethical concern — that the decision for MAiD or WLSM is being driven by a desire to donate organs — should be managed by ensuring that any discussion about organ donation takes place only after the decision for MAiD or WLSM is made.
If indications for MAiD change, this guidance for policies and the practice of organ donation after MAiD should be reviewed to ensure that the changes have not created new ethical or practical concerns. . .

Downar J, Shemie SD, Gillrie C, Fortin M-C, Amber Appleby A, Buchman DZ, Shoesmith C, Goldberg A, Gruben V, Lalani J, Ysebaert D, Wilson L, Sharpe MD. Deceased organ and tissue donation after medical assistance in dying and other conscious and competent donors: guidance for policy. CMAJ. 2019 Jun 3;191(22):E604-E613. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.181648.

(Editorial) A right to be unconscious

Julian Savulescu, Janet Radcliffe-Richards

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[Referring to Sinmyee et al] This seems to us to be an important, landmark paper. This is because the issues it addresses are important in their own right: how to ensure death without suffering in jurisdictions where assisted dying (including assisted suicide or euthanasia) is allowed, and also, because the technicalities are the same, in cases of capital punishment by lethal injection. Moreover, the paper shows the potential for the use of anaesthesia in contexts beyond surgery. Anaesthesia in its ordinary uses is intended to facilitate surgery designed to restore a patient to improved health and functioning. In assisted dying, however, there is no question of restoring health. The proposition is to use anaesthesia primarily to prevent suffering in a patient who is about to die and, in this sense, places anaesthesia on a new footing as a primary medical intervention, serving a purpose in its own right. . .

Savulescu J, Radcliffe-Richards J. A right to be unconscious. Anaesthesia. 2019 May; 74(5): 557-559

Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying law: clinical implementation as the next challenge

Ben P. White, Lindy Willmott, Eliana Close

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The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) (VAD Act) will become operational on 19 June, 2019. . . . While some have written on the scope of, and reaction to, the VAD legislation, there has been very little commentary on its implementation. Yet, important choices must be made about translating these laws into clinical practice. These choices have major implications for doctors and other health professionals (including those who choose not to facilitate VAD), patients, hospitals and other health providers. This article considers some key challenges in implementing Victoria’s VAD legislation.

White BP, Willmott L, Close E. Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying law: clinical implementation as the next challenge. Med J Australia. 2019 Mar;210(5):207-209.e1

(Correspondence) CMA’s “third way” may be a third rail

Responding to articles by CMA officials (BMJ 2019; 364)

Sean Murphy

British Medical Journal, BMJ — British Medical Journal

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It is disconcerting to find that the CMA’s President-Elect thinks that Canadian law “does not compel any physician to be involved in an act or procedure that would violate their values or faith.” The state medical regulator in Canada’s largest province has enacted policies that do just that, requiring physicians who refuse to kill their patients to find a colleague who will. These policies do have the force of law, and objecting physicians were forced to launch an expensive constitutional challenge to defend themselves. The Protection of Conscience Project and others have intervened in the case to support them; the CMA has not.

Further, the Canadian Medical Association’s assertion that it has successfully adopted a “neutral” position on euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) is challenged in a World Medical Journal article by seven Canadian physicians. “For refusing to collaborate in killing our patients,” they write, “many of us now risk discipline and expulsion from the medical profession,” are accused of human rights violations and “even called bigots.” . . .

Murphy S. CMA’s “third way” may be a third rail. Rapid Response to articles by CMA officials (BMJ 2019; 364).

Why I decided to provide assisted dying: It is truly patient centred care

Sandy Buchman

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Supporting conscientious objection and conscientious provision in the context of respecting physician autonomy is the essence of the CMA’s approach to MAID. Thus, the medical profession as a whole could participate actively throughout the drafting of the law and in the governance of medical assistance in dying. Respecting autonomy, for patients as well as for physicians, is the essential element in finding compromise to one of the most challenging question of medical ethics of our times.

Buchman S. Why I decided to provide assisted dying: It is truly patient centred care. BMJ (Online). 2019;364.

How the Canadian Medical Association found a third way to support all its members on assisted dying

Jeff Blackmer

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The CMA recognised that its policy needed to evolve: if the law were to change, the organisation would support all its members, regardless of their views, in deciding whether to participate in MAID. This was a watershed moment, enabling the association to lead national discussions and to give evidence before Canada’s Supreme Court. . . .The court referenced the CMA’s position to provide equal support for conscientious participation and conscientious objection, stating, “Nothing . . . would compel physicians to provide assistance in dying. The declaration simply renders the criminal prohibition invalid.”.

Blackmer J. How the Canadian Medical Association found a third way to support all its members on assisted dying. BMJ (Online). 2019;364.

Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD): Ten Things Leaders Need to Know

Rosanne Beuthin, Anne Bruce

Abstract
The provision of MAiD will be in flux for a few years, as legislative challenges are underway. This article addresses what leaders need to know and do to support nurses today and in the future regarding care of patients choosing MAiD. Drawing on complexity leadership theory and research into nurses’ experiences in caring for persons choosing MAiD, we share 10 simple yet foundational things a leader must know. Underpinning our key messages are current evidence and familiar nursing concepts such as end-of-life care, death trajectories, conscientious objection, scope of practice, ethics, sense-making and care cultures. These key messages are embedded in a framework of leadership practices where attention to inter-relationships, emergence and innovation are highlighted. They provide nurse leaders with concrete actions to inspire a team dynamic for creating inclusive cultures of quality care. Leadership is needed across healthcare settings where MAiD is being enacted.

Beuthin R, Bruce A. Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD): Ten Things Leaders Need to Know. Nurs Leadersh (Tor Ont). 2018 Dec;31(4):74-81. doi: 10.12927/cjnl.2019.25753.

Drawing the line on physician-assisted death

Lynn A Jansen, Steven Wall, Franklin G Miller

Abstract
Drawing the line on physician assistance in physician-assisted death (PAD) continues to be a contentious issue in many legal jurisdictions across the USA, Canada and Europe. PAD is a medical practice that occurs when physicians either prescribe or administer lethal medication to their patients. As more legal jurisdictions establish PAD for at least some class of patients, the question of the proper scope of this practice has become pressing. This paper presents an argument for restricting PAD to the terminally ill that can be accepted by defenders as well as critics of PAD for the terminally ill. The argument appeals to fairness-based paternalism and the social meaning of medical practice. These two considerations interact in various ways, as the paper explains. The right way to think about the social meaning of medical practice bears on fair paternalism as it relates to PAD and vice versa. The paper contends that these considerations have substantial force when directed against proposals to extend PAD to non-terminally ill patients, but considerably less force when directed against PAD for the terminally ill. The paper pays special attention to the case of non-terminally ill patients who suffer from treatment-resistant depression, as these patients present a potentially strong case for extending PAD beyond the terminally ill.

Jansen LA, Wall S, Miller FG. Drawing the line on physician-assisted death. J Med Ethics. 2019;45:190-197.

(Correspondence) Losing doctors with integrity will harm patients and profession

Karol F Boschung

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I am responding to a letter by Dr. Eric Brown about semantics in referring for medical assistance in dying (MAiD). . . The intended implication, it seems, is that any conscientious objectors should simply leave the practice of medicine.

Boschung KF. (Correspondence) Losing doctors with integrity will harm patients and profession. Can Med Assoc. J. 2018;7.

Completion of Medical Certificates of Death after an Assisted Death: An Environmental Scan of Practices

Janine Brown, Lilian Thorpe, Donna Goodridge

Abstract
Policies and practices have been developed to operationalize assisted dying processes in Canada. This project utilized an environmental scan to determine the spectrum of assisted death reporting practices and medical certificate of death (MCD) completion procedures both nationally and internationally. Findings suggest medically assisted dying (MAiD) is represented on the MCD inconsistently nationally and internationally. Related factors include the specifics of local assisted death legislation and variations in death-reporting legislation, variation in terminology surrounding assisted death and designated oversight agency for assisted dying reporting.

Brown J, Thorpe L, Goodridge D. Completion of Medical Certificates of Death after an Assisted Death: An Environmental Scan of Practices. Healthc Policy. 2018 Nov;14(2):59-67. doi: 10.12927/hcpol.2018.25685.