Canada’s Health System Fails for End of Life

Many families struggle to support their loved ones with dignity and comfort in their final months.   While in Ontario there are some good palliative care programs, and additional publicly funded home care for people deemed palliative, the system still leaves many behind.

What frustrates palliative doctors is that while we have now provided medical assistance in dying (Bill C-14), we don’t give everyone the option of a comfortable, pain free way to live out their final months with appropriate hospice or home care with nursing.   As a society we have done good job supporting the beginning of life (pregnancy, delivery, pediatric care etc), but we have gaps related to end of life.   The reality is that there are now more seniors than kids in Canada.

See below a good article from 2016 written by the President of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians.    Its a difficult topic but an important question regarding priorities for the Canadian healthcare system.

Globe Article:  Canada’s Health System Favors Cradle and Ignores Grave