Professor Harvey Chochinov:

I was not trying to necessarily suggest a separate medical profession or a separate profession outside of medicine. What I would say is that end-of-life care puts itself in jeopardy when it starts to look at itself and think of itself as including medical assistance in dying within its scope. Again, that is not based on moral rationale but on clinical rationale. The problem we are dealing with here is how to address human suffering, particularly how to address human suffering towards the end of life, and one of the most powerful things we do in palliative care, besides trying to treat pain and mitigate symptoms, really is about the relationship between ourselves, the healthcare provider, and the patient. Based on experience and data, we know the integrity and solidity of that relationship is the thing that sustains patients.

We need to make sure healthcare providers are not in a conflicted space where they are supposed to have that kind of relationship and connectedness which is key to palliative care while at the same time trying to balance an obligation to determine whether the person would be better served by hastening his or her dying.