Assisted dying: What happens when doctors disagree on what the law says?

there's a party going on in apartment 4:01 a celebration of a life well-lived the guest of honor is Nancy Vickers we've shared many adventures how would I describe Nancy classic but wild pure product of the 70s The Gathering is small but intimate in just a few hours Nancy will say her goodbyes and with the help of a physician will slip into a coma and die I was a beautiful young woman I traveled a lot see the design on horses and now 64 Nancy has lived an unconventional and colorful life who is this now that is me with my Moroccan boyfriend that was in Marrakesh you traveled a lot if there's a good life okay so how fat I am that's you yes whose tattoo is that that's mine that's my bum you're kidding no that's when it was new I don't know what it was like over a decade ago Nancy was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease is it hard for you to look at these photos not at all Parkinson's takes away your life chisels it away day by day bit by bit I loved cooking what was cooking was my thing I can't even stand in the kitchen now and slice a cucumber alone in her small apartment with her beloved cats Nancy's life is mostly confined to her sofa she has few relatives okay thank you my sweet but a cousin Jane Watanabe checks in on her every month or so and helps out with the chores it's delicious Thank You Jane do you welcome ending her life on her own terms has always been her wish so when medically assisted dying became law in Canada in 2016 she thinks she could get what she wants I've had such a full life I mean I am so lucky that I've been able to travel and have wonderful friends around the world and eat great food and drink great wines I don't want to become the drooling vegetable mass that I sometimes do become already with her condition worsening Nancy needs a doctor who can help her the first obvious choice was her family physician dr. Paul Cramer it was late last winter she called me and asked me what I thought about it and I said I agree and and would I help her but after consulting with a malpractice lawyer he's told that her illness doesn't fit the new loss criteria that a death has to be reasonably foreseeable so you believe Nancy has the right to die legally no but morally yes I'm not hurting anybody I just want my peace and my quiet and I want to stop this in this body that I don't recognize anymore without dr. Kramer's help Nancy has to find another doctor who will with her cousin Jane they begin to navigate through a bureaucratic provincial healthcare system and a medical community uncertain about their duty to their patients I know for a lot of doctors right now there has been this fear of litigation it's all so new it's so new you to several phone calls to the provincial Ministry of Health finally gets Nancy the results she was looking for good morning good morning how are you feeling this morning I'm tired you know I wish it was last month and not next month mm-hmm I really do this Toronto doctor helps people die but his family is deeply religious and doesn't know what he does for this reason we're not identifying him I met Nancy through the provincial care coordination service and you know when I first met her I saw someone who was frail who could hardly walk to their own washroom was confined basically to the spaces of her own apartment Nancy's story highlights the dilemma why does one doctor say yes and another say no it puts a degree of pressure on the doctor himself to sort of have to predict when a patient's going to to die I would need some assurance that I would be not arrested and sent to jail how are you feeling about going ahead with this I think Nancy's family doctor had the best of intentions when he tried to actually find out if this was someone who qualified it you know of course you can change your mind at any time doesn't affect any of the medical care that you get but of course it's up to you I'm I'm just happy that you're going to be there it's Nancy's final day the doctor has arrived hello everyone and I see you've got the music on and everything we'll get you to sign one last consent form and then oh oh yeah up to the stars I will take things from there okay just crazy to see that her - he's a hundred percent but she's in so much pain she needs to go get this show on the road we're gonna get you off to sleep okay are you starting to feel a little sleepy there Nancy okay Nancy I'm gonna start giving you the propofol this is gonna put you into a really really deep coma okay off we go sleeps it's okay you can let go okay yes I'm gonna move on to the next medicine now I'm gonna just have a listen to Nancy's heart and lungs she's got a lot to think about and then very moving doctor Daniel Martin joins us now as you watch that you you were impressed by that doctor I was I mean what a moving story and what an exceptional person Nancy was and what I dig nough fied death quite amazing in your practice when you've had a patient come to you and ask questions about the options he or she might have how does that conversation go I mean often people do just want to have a conversation about their options they want to understand what palliative care looks like they want to understand at what point might they be eligible for a medically assisted death and I think as Canadians are learning and physicians are learning what it's like in this new world you know where 18 months in the ground shifting beneath our feet we're all trying to develop a new language for having these conversations you know this as a doctor patients will go just about anywhere for information to friends to Google Health Canada has a website that help them through this Health Canada's got an excellent website that has links to all of the different provincial and territorial programs some provinces have a very centralized coordinated approach to medically assisted death and others are more decentralized and then of course for most people their family doctor is also a good place to start and even for those physicians who are conscientious objectors they will help to direct their patient to the right information so that they can pursue that if that's what they wish to do with just 30 seconds reasonably foreseeable we saw it was difficult for everyone right because it's it is a medical definition it's not a legal definition and so the determination of whether or not our death is reasonably foreseeable ultimately is up to a person's medical judgment but if a person gets a first opinion that that isn't what they were hoping for they do always have the option to seek out out their opinions and ultimately to doctors have to agree that this person is eligible before a procedure can take place as we saw there - doctors can come to different conclusions on the same that's right dr. Martin thank you so much thank you

Channel: CBC News: The National

Views: 352,334

Rating: 4.5462646 out of 5

Keywords: Assisted, dying, Nancy Vickers, Parkinson's disease, doctor, assistance, The National, Kas Roussey, CBC

Id: vm-ewDxkxZw

Length: 9min 47sec (587 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 12 2017