Professor Harvey Chochinov:

Not formally that I have seen. It may be that where there are medical assistance in dying teams, there is mutual support embedded within those models. I have not heard of additional mental health or other supports being formally organised. That said, it is stressful at every level for healthcare professionals who feel implicated in being drawn into a practice they do not find tenable. Again, my objection here is not so much a moral one as a clinical one, namely, that this is clinically antithetical to providing best care.

Another important point relates to the psychology of the healthcare provider. It is very important for healthcare providers to understand their own psychology and motivation in the context of what draws them into the realisation it is time to implement medical aid in dying. The dynamic of that often relates to a sense of helplessness or futility. If a healthcare provider is becoming well versed in how to attend to people who are suffering, he or she needs to confront the idea that he or she is dealing with problems that are huge and overwhelming. Rather than yielding to this sense of therapeutic nihilism, the healthcare provider needs to engage in all the ways I described in the paper I submitted to the panel, namely, the ways we know are effective in addressing human suffering.