Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Yes. Thank you. We have the same human resource challenges that emergency departments everywhere have. We would like to use our palliative care resources to provide palliative care to all Canadians, obviously including those who want MAID, but we want to be seen as being distin

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  There are a number of reasons for that. For about the past 40 years or so, palliative care has been striving to show people that we do not hasten death and we do not shorten their life. The problem with combining it with MAID is that there is confusion. That's one of the reasons.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  That's a great question. I would say, first of all, that people who are connected early to palliative care show a reduction in caregiver distress and show benefits even after a person has died. I also think, though, that we need some sort of financial benefits and help for caregi

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I think it would make an enormous difference if high-speed Internet and telehealth were accessible to all people. For instance, when I went to Haida Gwaii, I found out how poor the cell service there was. The nurses, in order to make a call, had to go to the beach to get cell ser

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'm not saying it's morally acceptable. I certainly work very hard to deal with someone's existential concerns. You may recall that in my talk I mentioned how interconnected all these fears are and how palliative care has a lot to offer for people who are suffering and who have—

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Yes. I definitely think there's a lot more work to be done on dealing with existential suffering. I think we're relatively early into a detailed understanding about existential research and how to offer therapeutic ways to mitigate this. I think there's good promise for this, and

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Yes, absolutely.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'll take it on.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'd like to make the point—and I think my colleague from Dorothy Ley also made it—that a person who has to choose between MAID and no funding doesn't have a choice. We've had several episodes like that in B.C. People could not get access to round-the-clock care, so they could not

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Do I use palliative sedation?

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Yes, I do.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  No, I do not. I should tell you that I've been retired clinically since 2019, but when I was practising I did not provide MAID.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'm not making a statement about morality. I provided palliative sedation very rarely, mostly for people with delirium at the end of life, because it is very difficult to keep a person comfortable and in their bed and calm if they do not have some degree of sedation. The use of s

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Oh yes. It is—

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'm not clear on your question. Are you asking me if I offered palliative sedation for existential suffering?