‘High Numbers’ of Children Not Receiving Timely Palliative Care, Report Finds

Many Canadian children in need of palliative care are not receiving it until their final weeks or days of life—and that’s if they receive it at all, according to a newly released report. There are “high numbers” of children who would benefit from paediatric palliative care (PPC) upon diagnosis of a serious illness or condition, according to a new report from the think tank Cardus. Fixing access issues to such services is especially important because children in Canada could become legally eligible for assisted suicide, Cardus health program director and report author Rebecca Vachon said. “The rapid adoption of euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada… makes the issues of accessible and quality pediatric palliative care more critical, as the public conversation has begun to consider expansion of MAID for ‘mature minors,’ that is, children deemed capable of consent,” Ms. Vachon wrote in the report. “Given the problems in the existing provision of PPC noted in this report, Canadians must ensure that children with serious illnesses or conditions do not feel that MAID is their only option.”...