Physician-Assisted Dying committee  That is essentially one of the main issues we've been dealing with. I think it would be important to actually focus on what we feel are the responsibilities of the physicians. We feel that those physicians who are not willing to provide the service and who may feel that a referral is also against their moral beliefs do have responsibilities to advise the patient on all of their options—to have the conversation we talked about on all end-of-life options, including physician-assisted dying, and to make sure the patient has the information they need to access that service.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  I think the issue varies. If the first physician feels that it is complex, we've certainly suggested that they may wish to get a specialist referral, especially with the assessment of capacity when they aren't sure whether this patient is capable of consenting, so in some instances, having a regulation that it be a specialist would actually restrict access.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  To date, we've always assumed that there would be a team involved in the care of the patient, but our understanding of the Carter decision is that it's physician-assisted dying. That was our interpretation, so we've looked at it in that light. It is certainly within the realm of possibility that it could be expanded.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Just for the information of the panel, I wanted to let you know that the Canadian Medical Association recognizes the need for physician education around physician-assisted dying, and we are currently developing educational programs for physicians. Dr. Branigan is actually an adviser.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Thank you for that question. It's certainly a question that we've had lots of debate about as well. In our document, we have actually come up with a definition. I could read it to you, but the essence of it is that “grievous” is serious or severe, and “irremediable” is not able to be put right or cured.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm Dr. Cindy Forbes, president of the Canadian Medical Association. I'm also a family physician from Nova Scotia. I'm joined today by Dr. Jeff Blackmer, vice-president of medical professionalism at the CMA. Dr. Blackmer has led the CMA's work on assisted dying.