End of life rules linked to better palliative care, says health minister

The minister of health in Newfoundland and Labrador says the province has not yet nailed down its position on a law to regulatephysician assisteddying.

• 'Death-denying society' needs to talk about palliative care, says N.L. doctor

John Haggietold the Central Morning Show thatthe issue was discussed at a meeting of provincial and federal ministers last week.

"There is atask force, a special committee, that has been set up," saidHaggie.

"I think the feds are going to set the framework in terms of what the criminal code will say and then it's going to be very much down to individual provinces to work out their own nuances."

While some issues such asage of consent and involvement of other health care providers come under federal jurisdiction, he said the provinces are hoping to be consistent.

"Quebec's gone and kind of led the way with its own approach but with the other provinces and territories it was felt to be, where possible, that we try to harmonize our approaches," said Haggie.

The Supreme Court of Canada has set June as the newdeadline to deliverlegislation.

"My view from the front lines was that the people who were actually in that situation often had a fairly specific set of issues in terms of their own ability to self administer a drug toend their life,"said Haggie, himself a doctor.

"A lot of the concerns about end of life - misery and lack of dignity - again stem from whether or not there's a perception that palliative care services are widely available and easily accessed," he added.

"We have made some strides over the past four or five years...It is going in the right direction, but it is too few and the demand is too great."

Haggie said the challenge is to improve palliative care in a time of fiscal restraint.

"Palliative care is one program and we have demands from mental health and demands from the acute care sector, who are equally difficult to meet."

He said there may be some federal money to improveprograms, but otherwise, it's a "zero-sum game."

In his words,"what are you prepared to give up to get palliative care?"