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Objective To review the empirical claims made in: Pereira J. Legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide: the illusion of safeguards and controls. Curr Oncol 2011;18:e38-45. Design We collected all of the empirical claims made by Jose Pereira in "Legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide: the illusion of safeguards and controls." We then collected all reference sources provided for those claims. We compared the claims with the sources (where sources were provided) and evaluated the level of support, if any, the sources provide for the claims. We also reviewed other available literature to assess the veracity of the empirical claims made in the paper. We then wrote the present paper using examples from the review. Results Pereira makes a number of factual statements without providing any sources. Pereira also makes a number of factual statements with sources, where the sources do not, in fact, provide support for the statements he made. Pereira also makes a number of false statements about the law and practice in jurisdictions that have legalized euthanasia or assisted suicide. Conclusions Pereira's conclusions are not supported by the evidence he provided. His paper should not be given any credence in the public policy debate about the legal status of assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada and around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The legalization of Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada in 2016 provided new impetus for improving palliative care. This commitment to improvement included the development of a National Palliative Care Framework and Action Plan. The purpose of this study was to understand the progress made in palliative care since 2016 from the perspective of persons working and volunteering in palliative care and compare geographic differences., Methods: A digital survey was developed from goals identified in Canada's Palliative Care Framework and Action Plan and administered online using Qualtrics. Participants were recruited through national palliative care organizations. The survey included both quantitative survey items designed to evaluate improvements across 5 domains and 29 items and included open-ended questions about impacts, innovations, and ongoing challenges. Descriptive statistics were generated for survey domains, items, and demographic variables. Geographic differences were compared using Independent-Samples Kruskal-Wallis test. Qualitative data was analyzed inductively into themes., Results: One hundred fifty surveys met inclusion criteria and were analysed. Overall, the most improvement was reported in palliative care education and the least improvement was reported in support for family caregivers. Items on which respondents reported the most improvement included healthcare provider education in palliative care, advance care planning, and use of technology. Items on which respondents reported the least improvement were respite for family caregivers, access to bereavement services, and in-home support for family caregivers. Notably, rural participants reported more statistically significant improvements in the domains of education, access, and research and data collection than their urban counterparts. However, rural participants reported less improvement in places to die when home is not preferable. The COVID-19 pandemic was a significant contributor to these perceived improvements and ongoing challenges., Conclusion: Canada's Framework and Action Plan sets out a roadmap for improving palliative care in Canada. Participants in this survey noted significant improvements in key areas, a notable accomplishment amidst the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some improvements were a result of greater use of distance technology. Further leveraging these improvements will make an important contribution to solving some of the rural and remote palliative care issues that have arisen from Canada's unique geography., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Aims and Objectives: To describes nurses' moral experiences with Medical Assistance in Dying in the Canadian context., Background: Nurses perform important roles in Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada and do so within a unique context in which Medical Assistance in Dying is provided through healthcare services and where accessibility is an important principle. International literature indicates that participating in Medical Assistance in Dying can be deeply impactful for nurses and requires a high degree of moral sense-making., Design: A qualitative interview study guided by Interpretive Description using the COREQ checklist., Results: Fifty-nine nurses from across Canada participated in the study. The decision to participate in Medical Assistance in Dying was influenced by family and community, professional experience and nurses' proximity to the act of Medical Assistance in Dying. Nurses described a range of deep and sometimes conflicting emotional reactions provoked by Medical Assistance in Dying. Nurses used a number of moral waypoints to make sense of their decision including patient choice, control and certainty; an understanding that it was not about the nurse; a commitment to staying with patients through suffering; consideration of moral consistency; issues related to the afterlife; and the peace and gratitude demonstrated by patients and families., Discussion: The depth of nurses' intuitional moral responses and their need to make sense of these responses are consistent with Haidt's theory of moral experience in which individuals use reasoning primarily to explain their moral intuition and in which moral change occurs primarily through compassionate social interaction. Further, work on the moral identity of nursing provides robust explanation of how nurses' moral decisions are contextually and relationally mediated and how they seek to guard patient vulnerability, even at their own emotional cost., Conclusion: Medical Assistance in Dying is impactful for nurses, and for some, it requires intensive and ongoing moral sense-making., Relevance to Clinical Practice: There is a need to provide support for nurses' moral deliberation and emotional well-being in the context of Medical Assistance in Dying care., (© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)