The top court's decision to overturn the ban on doctor-assisted suicide has one local physician concerned about how that may detract from end-of-life care.
Dr. Darren Cargill specializes in palliative care and is also the medical director at The Hospice of Windsor and Essex County. He says his personal views on the controversial topic are clear. "If we were able to provide good palliative care, if that access number was closer to 100% rather than closer to 30%, maybe all of this talk about physician-assisted death wouldn't be as important," says Cargill. "Certainly as doctors, we don't want our patients to suffer. We want patients to be able to have a great quality of life and die in peace when it is their time."
Cargill says he's been asked by a few of his palliative care patients about doctor-assisted death in the past. "Usually they're asking me because they have a symptom, whether it's pain or existential suffering, but when you apply good palliative care, many times patients will withdraw that request."
The Hospice of Windsor and Essex County doesn't support doctor-assisted suicide, but Cargill says everything is up for debate. "Do I think we've kind of jumped the gun here a little bit? My opinion is, I think that we have," says Cargill. "What they want is, how can you guarantee 100% that everyone who receives palliative care will never suffer? Unfortunately, if it's one thing we know about human existence is that we will never truly be able to remove suffering."
Physicians cannot be forced to provide doctor-assisted suicide, Cargill says it's a personal choice.