Robert Cribb’s article in The Star addresses Assisted Dying in a five part series addressing how Canadians are dying. It seems unlikely that the Boomers who fought for “Reproductive Rights” will not succeed at legalizing “Death Rights” including the right to chose “Assisted Dying”.
As Canadians participate in this discussion and laws change my greatest concern is that we CONTINUE to ADVOCATE or START to ADVOCATE to ensure:
- hospice palliative care is accessible to all Canadians,
- earlier in the disease process,
- for people with any life limiting illnesses,
- across all settings.
Currently less than 30% of dying Canadians receive the services of a specialty care hospice palliative care consult service. Many only receive the service in the last days and weeks of life.
As I have shared in other blogs, Palliative Care Australia suggests that 65% of the dying can be well cared for by their primary health care team, given that the primary care providers have basic education in a palliative approach.
A palliative approach, the integration of palliative principles and philosophy can be integrated in any setting, for people with any life limiting illness, earlier in the disease process.
In Canada two exiting research projects are exploring the integration of a palliative approach.
iPANEL and Quality Palliative Care in Long Term Care are doing wonderful work as they explore ways to best integrate a palliative approach in “other settings”.
