In Canada, Doctors Have Qualms About Helping People Die

Eight months after Canada legalized physician-assisted dying, some doctors are having second thoughts about taking part in the process, the National Post reports.

In Ontario, 24 doctors have permanently been removed from a voluntary referral list of physicians willing to assist and another 30 have put their names on temporary hold. Ontario is one of the few provinces to track the information. 

Some doctors reported the act to be too distressing. 

"We're seeing individuals, or groups of physicians who are participating and really feel like they’re alleviating pain, alleviating suffering," Dr. Jeff Blackmer, the Canadian Medical Association's vice president of medical professionalism, told the National Post.

"And then we're seeing doctors who go through one experience and it's just overwhelming, it's too difficult, and those are the ones who say, 'Take my name off the list. I can't do anymore.'"

Some doctors, though, say they worry about the legal repercussions. 

The confusion over who qualifies for legalized physician-assistance dying "causes great anxiety for physicians, and many just pull back," said Vancouver Island family physician Dr. Jonathan Reggler, chairman of Dying with Dignity Canada’s physician advisory council. "If the doctor doesn't carry out the medically assisted death according to the law, that doctor is at risk of being prosecuted for murder."

Canada is one of the few nations where doctors can legally help people die. The government introduced the bill in April and it passed a final Senate vote in June of 2016. Strict criteria must be met by patients to obtain a doctor's help in dying including:

• "Be eligible for government-funded health care (a requirement limiting assisted suicides to Canadians and permanent residents, to prevent suicide tourism)."
• "Be a mentally competent adult 18 or older."
• "Have a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability."
• "Be in an 'advanced state of irreversible decline,' with enduring and intolerable suffering."

"When anything of this nature first comes into a society, you’re going to get a number of adjustments as you go along," Kelvin Ogilvie, co-chairman of a special parliamentary committee on assisted death, told the Post. 

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