This is assisted dying
Title: This is assisted dying
Subtitle: A doctor’s story of empowering patients at the end of life
Author: Dr. Stefanie Green
Also avalaible as audiobook!
Where to buy
Coming March 29, 2022
About the author
Dr. Stefanie Green spent ten years in general practice and another twelve years working exclusively in maternity and newborn care before changing her focus in 2016 to medical assistance in dying (MAiD). Dr. Green is the cofounder and current President of the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers (CAMAP). She is medical advisor to the BC Ministry of Health MAiD oversight committee, moderator of CAMAP’s national online forum and has hosted three national conferences on the topic. She is clinical faculty at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria, and lives in British Columbia with her family.
Reviews
Review by Rob Jonquiere
In “This is Assisted Dying” Dr Stefanie Green takes the reader along on her personal road of development regarding the practice of Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) after it became legal in Canada. Using patient stories she recounts her growth as MAiD provider, from one of the first cases in Canada after law C14 was passed, through the first year of her experience, up till the establishment of CAMAP, the professional organisation supporting providers (and assessors) in which she plays a major role. It is impressive to read the way she writes how step by step a new law is being implemented into a daily practice, in which professionals can execute the newly acquired legal possibility of assisting a patient in dying, at the same time – as the subtitle says – empowering patients at the end of life. In this first year described you’ll read about her natural growth of expertise, based on personal experiences and professional exchanges with colleagues; based also on a seemingly natural attitude to want help patients in existential situations. Like many others in the field Stefanie compares her new job with her former position as maternity doctor: “in both ‘deliveries’ as I call them, I am invited into a most intimate moment in peoples lives”. Stefanie Green’s book shows that careful procedures, humane interest and personal dedication make so called right-to-die laws feasible and safely implementable. A lesson to others, public and professional, to assess the prospects of legislation and practice of MAiD in other jurisdictions. As she herself says ” … when there is nothing more “to do”. I sit with my patients and try to journey with them, stay present, provide a listening ear, and answer their questions and answer their questions as best as I can. this what a doctors does. ‘To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always'”. Her book demonstrates that MAiD is about comforting patients. A must read.
Rob Jonquière MD, Executive Director WFRtDS