Live Until You Die

Amid the profile of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) and a prevailing interest to support living until death, discussions of appropriate care and care settings for dying abound. The when and how of easing the passage from this corporeal being to a state of other being, whatever you believe that to be, has been focal in healthcare discussions in recent years. I remember a time when the notion of "palliative care" was somewhat novel, in later years when a family member was the recipient of excellent end-of-life care, but still many recent instances in which we, "the system" fail to ensure that that final life journey is aligned (as much as possible) with a person's final wishes. Alas, a 2013 survey by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) showed that a majority of Canadians preferred to die at home, but few (15%) died outside of a hospital (CIHI 2018).