End of Life

The gift of a better death

Canadians need universal and equitable access to high-quality palliative care. It’s time to talk about death and dying more openly and ask ourselves: What is a good death?

Plan on ‘aging in place’? Start early and be patient

Alcina Sung and the Togethering team are compiling resources that may better educate families, designers and developers on accessibility considerations and other resources to make aging at home a reality for as long as possible.

The ABCs of combating ageism

We all need to rethink aging. Not only do our beliefs about aging play an essential role in the aging process, but changing these beliefs is not as hard as we might think.

The Plan to Stay Open: Relief for our beleaguered health-care system or a move to further privatization?

Ontario’s Plan to Stay Open, a five-point strategy aimed at “health-care system stability and recovery,” has been the subject of much debate since its final release in August. We asked a panel of experts what they thought about the plan. Here's what they had to say.

Ten health literacy principles cancer patients need to know

A medical oncologist describes ten health literacy principles to help cancer patients be informed participants in important treatment decisions.

An Excerpt from Death Interrupted

Chapter 5 of Death Interrupted: "Declaring Death: Who Decides When the End Has Arrived?"

Interview with the author: Blair Bigham

Healthy Debate sat down with Dr. Blair Bigham to talk about his experience writing Death Interrupted.

The right to die: Should MAiD apply to those whose sole condition is mental illness?

With the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to include those whose sole condition is mental illness fast approaching, we asked a panel of experts whether they felt this was a move in the right direction — and what they hope to see moving forward.

On mentors: Honouring the legacy of a palliative care specialist

Gone but not forgotten: Darren Cargill honours his mentor in palliative care, Ciaran Sheehan, for National Hospice and Palliative Care Week.

Advance care planning? Your future self might not thank you

Advance care planning takes for granted that any wishes about my care that I made in advance should guide the treatment I get when I'm incapacitated. But what if they actually shouldn't – because when incapacitated, I'm not the same person?

Mental health and MAID: An ongoing challenge

Parliament is looking into offering MAiD to people whose only underlying condition is a mental illness. But this might be premature. After all, shouldn't we first improve mental health care in Canada?

Healing through community: Reflecting on collective grief from COVID-19

We are grieving loss of life on a mass scale at a time when pandemic restrictions have disrupted our customary death rituals and traditions. Could an initiative called The Reflection Room help LTC residents and others cope with their grief?

‘A second layer of loss’: Pandemic has changed how we grieve for our loved ones

For many people grieving the loss of a loved one during COVID-19, public-health restrictions on death-related rituals like funerals have created a "second layer of loss," taking an emotional and spiritual toll.

New MAiD legislation calls for the wise words of a pioneer

The new MAiD law should provoke reflection about our own attitudes toward death. A place to start is a wise 12-minute video produced by a prominent geriatrician shortly before his own medically assisted death.

Why choose palliative care?

You may assume that palliative care is synonymous with end-of-life or hospice care. Our goal is to eliminate this common misconception.

MAiD debate must be paused until we have dealt with COVID-19

Rather than rushing to amend our Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) law, Parliament should be focused on expanding access to social services.

The timing could hardly be worse

You want to introduce fundamental change to a controversial practice during a pandemic? Bill C-7 will become law while every healthcare organization in the country is swamped by the worst crisis in living memory.

Bill 3 is a good start but more must be done for palliative care

Giving thanks for Dan’s Law

Raising the bar on our haphazard end-of-life transition from hospital to home