Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Yes. If you limited it to the youth who were imminently dying, we could learn from their experience, and that might inform the other groups of youth going forward. It's true that delay is not neutral, but on the other hand, this is a new sort of experiment for humanity, if you wi

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'd have to say that most of the children and youth I have cared for do not need palliative sedation at the end of life—that's rare. That's why I think the numbers will be low of the youth who actually want to embark on a process like this. Some may, because of that need for auto

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I have had very few conversations with youth about this. There are very few young people who have wanted to talk about hastening their death. The people I've spoken to are parents of not capable children who wonder why their child must continue to suffer. That's just my lived exp

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'm sorry, but I'll have to answer in English. I was doing Duolingo until you all came in. What we imagine and what really happens when a child is dying are two different things. I think it would be so clear to anyone. By the time a child or youth actually decided to embark on

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  No, and I think when we look to other countries, we know the numbers are very low. When we did the Council of Canadian Academies review for the Netherlands, for example, I think there were 10 to 13 children. It's very low, very infrequent. In my clinical experience, the abili

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Something we talked a lot about at the Council of Canadian Academies is that I don't think we would imagine panels and putting these children and youth through an extra lens of security for us. I think it needs to be embedded in the child's health care team that everybody feels c

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Mental illness is not my specialty, but I would say that from talking to many people about this issue, there is very little appetite for that intersection of mature minors and mental illness as a sole underlying condition. To say that something is irremediable before the 18th bir

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I do think it's a fair comparison. When we look at lots of decisions mature minors might take, it might be earlier in the trajectory, but the outcome may be the same. If they decide against further chemotherapy or further immunotherapy, or something like that, the outcome might b

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I really think that if the youth is found to be mature and capable, there may be parents who can't accept the reality of that person's situation. I think it will be very infrequent, and I don't think that should be a barrier to what this committee recommends. Just like in the adu

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  It could, yes.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  If they were found to be capable, yes, I would.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  That's tricky. In my experience with families, the child or youth and their parents are very often of the same mind. I've had a few encounters in which parents and their child had different opinions about what they wanted for treatment, but as the child's illness progressed, I ca

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I think that's true. However, if we look at adults who have opted for MAID, many of them have had excellent palliative care. I think I'm one of a minority of physicians in that I don't think that palliative care is the answer to the question about whether or not there should be M

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I don't think so.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  No, because for families that want it, it is available. It might mean relocating as a family for a period of time, but it is available. In small communities, it's just how you build teams around that family. It might not be perfect, but....