Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon Feb 24 2025
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Notes:
Medical assistance in dying accounts for perhaps one in twenty deaths in Canada today and has therefore touched many lives, but there is still much misunderstanding and unfamiliarity with the criteria and process. The choice of an assisted death requires a clear understanding of the criteria, timing, assessment, and alternatives. I’ll therefore briefly review the history of medically assisted death in Canada before explaining the evolving eligibility criteria (including advance planning), the application and assessment process, and the procedure itself. Do you realize that average human life expectancy has more than doubled worldwide from 32 years in 1900 to 73 years in 2020? However, this increase in lifespan isn’t necessarily associated with an increase in “health span”, as evident in a steady increase in the percentage of all deaths that were medically assisted in Canada from zero in 2015, to 4.1% in 2022. Death from cancer can be slow and difficult, and was the main condition in 63% of the assisted deaths in Canada in 2022, followed by cardiovascular conditions at 18.8%. Medically assisted death is now an option, complementing other approaches, to the fact of intolerable and enduring suffering at the end of life. I appreciate this opportunity to share my experience and your interest.
About Dr. Simon Bryant:
Dr. Simon Bryant has been active in both assessment for and provision of medically assisted death since it became legal in Canada in 2016. He holds a B.Sc. in Biology and Psychology (with distinction) from Concordia University (1988) a MD degree from the University of Calgary (1991), and a Master of Philosophy (Humanities) from Memorial University (2020). Dr Bryant has over thirty years of diverse medial experience including rural Alberta and Nunavut, overseas humanitarian work (MSF, Mediterranean Search and Rescue Boat Project in 2015, and Afghanistan in 2018), “hospitalist” and ethics-consult service (2003-2007) at the Peter Lougheed Hospital in Calgary, and expedition cruise work in polar regions. He was the recipient of the Calgary General Hospital Medical Staff Association “Physician of Merit”award in 2001, and the Alumni Achievement Award of the University of Calgary in 2015. In 1998, Dr. Bryant was a co-founding Board Member of the Calgary-based “Medical Mercy Canada” charity (active in Ukraine and on the borders of Myanmar). Most recently, he volunteers with and supports the Palliative Care Society of the Bow Valley while crafting a memoir and guide to medically assisted death.