Justice committee  I can't say that I know of evidence of overt coercion, but there's a form of covert coercion that we need to think about. People who are sick and nearing the end of life, or who are in pain or living with the encumbrances of physical illness begin to feel a burden to those around

Justice committee  Not to my knowledge, no.

Justice committee  It's a difficult question because we're trying to address the issue of suffering and how we can respond to patient suffering, and we're using a tool that is particularly crude, which is euthanasia or assisted suicide. Suicidal ideation is not uncommon in the general population.

Justice committee  Again, the 90 days is a problematic time frame. I come back to the Manitoba study that I mentioned. This was a study that looked at groups of people who had suffered from some physical ailment, and from the time of diagnosis and 90 days hence they found that these people were at

Justice committee  I think the 90-day period is problematic. I know that Dr. Ferrier also cited studies that looked at patients who had traumatic injuries. She found that anywhere from three to 24 months later patients continued to experience suicidal ideation, and over the course of that time also

Justice committee  The 90-day clock, as you put it, is very problematic. There have been a number of studies. For example, a Manitoba study actually found that after 90 days of being diagnosed with a major physical impairment, patients reach a peak in their suicidal ideation. They continue to be su

Justice committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe that the data I will be sharing will be important for the committee to consider. The following comes from my written submitted brief. By way of background, I am a distinguished professor of psychiatry at the University of Manitoba. I am former