Editor: I strongly agree with Avis Picton’s views that medically assisted death should be performed with the patient in mind.
My husband recently died a most painful death while in palliative hospital care. He had prepared for MAiD but passed away before invoking that right.
When we reviewed the rules around MAiD, we were most distressed to find that if he had been transferred to hospice care, he would have to be transferred back to the hospital for his final day.
You cannot imagine the soul searching that a person goes through to end their life and to do it in an unfamiliar, sterile environment should not be part of that decision. Hospice staff and volunteers need to stop thinking about themselves and think about the patient.
Dianne Guinn,
Langley