Counselling as death approaches: Is the New Yorker really the best we can do?

Balfour Mount, MD, FRCPC

Balfour Mount, the Eric M. Flanders Professor of Palliative Medicine at McGill University, is director of the Palliative Care Service at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal.

Canadian Medical Association Journal 1995; 153: 1340-1342

[résumé]


Abstract

An expert in palliative care has taken exception to a recent CMAJ article dealing with euthanasia. That column praised a magazine article in which a son explained why he and his family had helped their mother commit suicide in the face of a terminal illness. Dr. Balfour Mount says the article was misleading and offers no credible solutions to the issues surrounding palliative care.

Résumé

Un expert en soins palliatifs soulève des objections à un article sur l'euthanasie paru récemment dans le JAMC. L'auteur louait un article de revue où un fils expliquait pourquoi les membres de sa famille et lui-même avaient aidé leur mère en phase terminale à se suicider. Le Dr Balfour Mount affirme que l'article était trompeur et n'offre aucune solution crédible aux enjeux liés aux soins palliatifs.
CMAJ November 1, 1995 (vol 153, no 9) / JAMC le 1er novembre 1995 (vol 153, no 9)