Mr. Kevin Kelly:

On the Canadian test, which is what I am using as a reference, it is defined as intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition. It is definitely a hybrid between objective and subjective, which I know might seem alarming. In the Canadian test, they have a procedure involving an independent witness, that is, a non-clinician, someone who could not be a beneficiary from the person's death, who is not in the person's will and who has no incentive to act as an independent witness. I think there may also be two independent clinicians. The independent witness will stand to the person's subjective suffering and whether the person is in intolerable pain. The clinician input will be in respect of the objective medical condition and the pain in the person's life due to that. It is a hybrid between subjective and objective. I do think the safeguards imposed by the clinicians' assessment of objective suffering are one of the ways.