Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Thank you. Dr. Lemire, you stated that physician-assisted dying is not just about process and procedures but very much about the relationship between the physician and the patient. Clearly we need to deal with clarity for professionals, as you yourself put forward as well. My question to you is this: should the process involved in making a request for physician-assisted dying and the process involved in providing physician-assisted dying be established through federal legislation?

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  It's true that the provincial regulatory medical authorities have established guidelines for their members in relation to physician-assisted dying. Do those guidelines provide somewhat of a satisfactory framework?

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Shall I defer the rest of my time now?

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  I'll defer to Senator Joyal.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Thank you very much. You've all talked about the right of conscientious objection for the physicians, and clearly the question that comes forward is what the best means is to assure equity and access to assisted death for patients who want it while reconciling that with the charter rights of physicians with regard to conscientious objection.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Mr. Paterson.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Mr. Cameron.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Mr. Paterson and Ms. Pastine, in your presentations both of you said that physician-assisted dying basically should be treated like any other medical decision and should be governed by the established norms of informed consent and competency assessments. In that case, I would like you to go through the steps, as you see them, that should be involved in making a request for physician-assisted dying and then for the physician to respond to that request.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Thank you, Chair. Dr. Downie, in your proposed legislation you define advance directives. We heard yesterday from the Canadian Medical Association. They made it clear to us that they don't believe advance directives can be easily administered. How would you respond to that?

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Okay. In your proposed federal legislative draft, you would permit health care providers, in addition to physicians, to assist deaths under the direction of physicians or nurse practitioners. Could you help us understand that? We had quite a negative response to that as well. Given that we heard that the Supreme Court ruling refers specifically to physician-assisted death, how would this cohere with that?

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Okay. As well, Dr. Downie, yesterday we heard testimony from Dr. Monica Branigan of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians. She discussed the importance of having a national oversight organization that would be a partnership between the provinces, the territories, and the federal government.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Thank you.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  The Canadian Nurses Association stressed the importance of an interprofessional team to undertake a comprehensive assessment in making the evaluation for physician-assisted dying. I'd like to know, if I may, from either of the two witnesses from the pharmacists, what specific role they could recommend for pharmacists to play in this interprofessional team.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Would the pharmacist have anything to say about what would happen to this drug if it wasn't used, for example?

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Exactly. For example, in the U.K. there was in fact a bill that had a specific instruction on how to deal with the return of a drug to the pharmacy from which it was dispensed. In your opinion, should a similar kind of provision be included in the legislation?