And we don't know if a doctor is in attendance at the time of the overdose to witness it. In most instances we know these people are 65 or older. 'What circumstances are these people in? There is no stipulation to re-evaluate for competency. Which doctors they have seen, which ones have said yes and which have said no.'Ĭhochinov said the prescription is given and that lethal medication could be sitting in someone's medicine cabinet for two days, two weeks, two months or longer. The data is poor as there is no transparency on who is getting the prescriptions. 'Of the 115 prescriptions given out in that state last year, 89 were taken. He looked at what happened in the state of Oregon where physician assisted suicide is legal. Opening door for abuse?Ĭhochinov worries about the potential for abuse.

When someone comes to us for help with pain and they are afraid and have emotional issues, it would be hard to establish a strong relationship of trust when behind our back you have a syringe that could end that person's life,' Harlos said. 'I don't know when people are more vulnerable than when they are dying. Trust between a doctor and a patient will be affected, Harlos said. 'It is a dangerous card to include in our repertoire,' said Chochinov. 'Dangerous card'īoth Chochinov and Harlos said allowing physician assisted suicide will alter the relationship between a dying patient and their doctor. And he's afraid patients may feel the same. Harlos believes doctors who don't have adequate training in palliative care are more likely to seeing ending someone's life as the answer. 'That is a disparity I am concerned about.'Ĭhochinov adds 'enabling people to start making decisions about life and death and hastening death in the absence of that kind of expertise just seems unfathomable.' Harlos believes the timing is terrible because doctors are being put in a position to end life when they have had minimal training in how to relieve suffering. Volunteers in the field in Manitoba get 30 hours,' Harlos said. In the undergrad curriculum in medicine, students get only nine hours of training in palliative care.

'Physicians need to be better trained in basic things like pain management.

Mike Harlos said the playing field isn't fair as the country moves towards physician assisted suicide. The director of Adult and Pediatric Palliative Care for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority agrees. 'It is odd we have a system that may allow the option of assisted dying where there is no guarantee that we have access to quality end of life care,' Chochinov said. Mike Harlos, director of Adult and Pediatric Palliative Care for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (bottom), believe the playing field isn't fair as the country moves toward physician assisted suicide. Doctor Harvey Chochinov, Canada's Research Chair in Palliative Care (top) and Dr.

Doctors in training are dying