1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«This document presents the unanimous Final Report of the RSC EOL Panel [Royal Society of Canada established the Expert Panel on End of Life Decision-Making].» (p. 5) «Chapter 1 reviews what is known about end-of-life care and opinions about assisted dying in Canada.» (p. 4)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«The research in this section is drawn from the academic literature and relevant non-academic sources such as government reports. Preference is given to Canadian reports, data sources and published studies.» (p. 8)

Type de traitement des données :
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

«This report on end-of-life decision-making in Canada was produced by an international expert panel and commissioned by the Royal Society of Canada. It consists of five chapters.» (p. 4)« [Chapter 1] comprises several sections, including an examination of how and where Canadians are dying, as well as the changing demographic landscape (specifically an aging and increasingly diverse population and exponential growth in chronic diseases relevant to end-of-life discussions). [...] Several elements of quality end-of-life care are important here, including both access to palliative care services to mitigate/ manage symptoms and provide comfort to the dying, and the use of advance directives to ensure that treatment wishes at the end of life are respected when an individual is no longer competent to make decisions, or is incapable of expressing wishes. In this chapter, Canadian attitudes towards assisted suicide and euthanasia are examined and compared with other nations.» (p. 8)
Note : L’importance du soutien familial est souvent abordée dans ce chapitre, plus particulièrement, la peur des personnes en fin de vie d’être un fardeau pour les membres de leur famille. Il est également question du niveau de communication entre les patients, leur famille et le personnel médical. Des données sur la province du Québec sont présentées et détaillées dans ce document.