Requests for Assistance in Dying

People with advanced or incurable illness often experience physical, psychological, existential, or other forms of distress during the course of their illness. This distress can be severe enough that people will express a desire to die or even request that a clinician end their life, in order to relieve their suffering. Clinicians working in a palliative context must be skilled in responding to such a desire or request. The law around assisted death is evolving in many jurisdictions, an palliative care providers must be aware of the legal status of assisted death where they work, as well as any legal and ethical obligations regarding communication around assisted death.