Credit: Government of Canada

On March 17, 2021, the Government of Canada announced that changes to Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) law are officially in force. The new law includes changes to eligibility, procedural safeguards, and the framework for the federal government’s data collection and reporting regime.

The new law responds to feedback from over 300,000 Canadians, experts, practitioners, stakeholders, provinces and territories and is also informed by the testimony of over 120 expert witnesses.

Read the amended MAID law.

Specifically, the new law:

• Removes the requirement for a person’s natural death to be reasonably foreseeable in order to be eligible for MAID, in response to the 2019 Superior Court of Québec’s Truchon ruling
• Introduces a two-track approach to procedural safeguards based on whether or not a person’s natural death is reasonably foreseeable
  • Existing safeguards are maintained and, in some cases, eased for eligible persons whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable
  • New and strengthened safeguards are introduced for eligible persons whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable
• Temporarily excludes eligibility for individuals suffering solely from mental illness for 24 months, and requires the Ministers of Justice and Health to initiate an expert review tasked with making recommendations within the next year on protocols, guidance and safeguards for MAID for persons suffering from mental illness
• Allows eligible persons whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable, and who have a set date to receive MAID, to waive final consent if they are at risk of losing capacity in the interim
• Allows for expanded data collection and analysis through the federal monitoring regime to provide a more complete and inclusive picture of MAID in Canada

Please refer to the Government of Canada website for further details on what this change in MAID legislation means for Canadians.

Credit: St. Joseph’s Health Care

A concussion is a brain injury caused by a hit to the head or body that forces the brain to move back and forth inside the skull. Known as an invisible injury, a concussion can affect a person’s physical, mental, behavioral and/or emotional health. While 80% of people recover from a concussion, 20% have persistent symptoms that can develop or worsen over time. If people stop activity all together, it can delay their recovery but if they push themselves too hard, it can intensify concussion symptoms.

To help patients get back to living full lives, a health care team at St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Outpatient and Outreach Program at Parkwood Institute has developed a free online toolkit for people to use at home.

“We have several programs and services that introduces patients and their family caregivers to many of these resources, but we also know there are others in the community and across our region with concussions who could benefit from the strategies developed here at Parkwood Institute. The most exciting part about this toolkit is that it was co-designed with patients and families and made possible by generous donations from former patients and several community partners. So many people and organizations have joined together to make this happen,” says ABI Program Coordinator Saagar Walia.

The ABI Education Toolkit launched February 1, 2021 and includes programs and services to provide strategies to help patients get back to life and focus on:

• Activity and exercise
• Sleep
• Hearing
• Mental health
• Balance
• Vision
• Memory and attention*

Read more about St. Joseph’s ABI Education Toolkit.

*Please note that the memory and attention section of this toolkit features SAC member Penny Welch-West, S-LP(C).