Dons d'organes et de tissus après décès dans le cadre de l'aide médicale à mourir : mise à jour 2023 du document d'orientation pour l'élaboration de politiques.

CONTEXTE: Depuis la parution du document d'orientation de 2019 de la Société canadienne du sang (SCS) pour les dons d'organes et de tissus après décès dans le cadre de l'aide médicale à mourir (AMM), le gouvernement fédéral a apporté des amendements à sa loi sur l'AMM. La présente mise à jour s'adresse aux médecins, aux organismes de don d'organes, aux spécialistes des soins de fin de vie et de l'AMM et aux responsables des orientations politiques; on y explique les répercussions de ces amendements. MÉTHODES: La Société canadienne du sang a réuni un groupe de 63 spécialistes de divers domaines (soins intensifs, dons d'organes et de tissus, administration des services de santé, AMM, bioéthique, droit et recherche) pour faire le point sur ces changements à l'occasion de son Forum d'orientation sur le don d'organes et de tissus après décès dans le cadre de l'aide médicale à mourir. Deux personnes admissibles à l'AMM et 2 proches de personnes ayant fait un don d'organe après l'AMM y ont aussi participé. Dans le cadre de 3 réunions consécutives tenues en ligne entre juin 2021 et avril 2022, les personnes participant au Forum ont abordé divers sujets en grands et petits groupes. Les discussions ont été guidées par une revue documentaire publiée selon la méthodologie JBI. Nous avons utilisé une technique du groupe nominal adaptée pour rédiger les recommandations qui ont fait consensus. La gestion des intérêts concurrents s'est faite selon les principes du Guidelines International Network, un réseau international qui se consacre aux lignes directrices de pratique clinique. RECOMMANDATIONS: Même si bon nombre des recommandations du document d'orientation de 2019 demeurent pertinentes, la présente mise à jour a permis d'en actualiser 2 et d'en formuler 8 nouvelles dans les domaines suivants : aiguillage vers un organisme de don d'organes, consentement, dons dirigés et conditionnels, procédure d'AMM, détermination du décès, équipes soignantes et préparation de rapports. INTERPRÉTATION: Les politiques et les pratiques en matière de don d'organes et de tissus après l'AMM au Canada doivent être conformes à la législation canadienne actuelle. La mise à jour de ce document d'orientation aidera les médecins à s'y retrouver parmi les enjeux médicaux, juridiques et éthiques inhérents à leur travail auprès de personnes qui souhaitent faire un don d'organes après l'AMM.

Deceased organ and tissue donation after medical assistance in dying: 2023 updated guidance for policy.

BACKGROUND: Since Canadian Blood Services (CBS) developed policy guidance in 2019 for organ and tissue donation after medical assistance in dying (MAiD), the federal government has made changes to legislation related to MAiD. This document provides updated guidance for clinicians, organ donation organizations, end-of-life care experts, MAiD providers and policy-makers on the impact of these changes. METHODS: Canadian Blood Services assembled a group of 63 experts from critical care, organ and tissue donation, health care administration, MAiD, bioethics, law and research to review the legislative changes in the Organ and Tissue Donation After Medical Assistance in Dying - Guidance for Policy forum. Two patients who had requested and been found eligible for MAiD and 2 family members of patients who had donated organs after MAiD were also included as participants. In a series of 3 online meetings from June 2021 to April 2022, forum participants addressed a variety of topics in small and large groups. These discussions were informed by a comprehensive scoping review using JBI methodology. We used an adapted form of nominal group technique to develop the recommendations, which were approved by consensus of the participants. Management of competing interests was in accordance with Guideline International Network principles. RECOMMENDATIONS: Although many of the recommendations from the guidance developed in 2019 are still relevant, this guidance provides 2 updated recommendations and 8 new recommendations in the following areas: referral to an organ donation organization, consent, directed and conditional donation, MAiD procedures, determination of death, health care professionals and reporting. INTERPRETATION: Policies and practices for organ and tissue donation after MAiD in Canada should align with current Canadian legislation. This updated guidance will help clinicians navigate the medical, legal and ethical challenges that arise when they support patients pursuing donation after MAiD.

Directed Organ Donation After Euthanasia.

Organ donation after euthanasia is performed in Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and Spain. Directed deceased organ donation is currently possible under strict conditions in a limited number of countries, while it is currently not possible to opt for directed donation following euthanasia. While organ donation after euthanasia is a deceased donation procedure, directed organ donation after euthanasia could be seen as a deceased donation procedure with a living donation consent process. Therefore, directed organ donation after euthanasia is feasible on medical and ethical grounds. Strict safeguards should be in place, including the requirement of a pre-existing familial or personal relationship with the proposed recipient, without any evidence of coercion or financial gain.

Practice and challenges for organ donation after medical assistance in dying: A scoping review including the results of the first international roundtable in 2021.

The procedure combining medical assistance in dying (MAiD) with donations after circulatory determination of death (DCDD) is known as organ donation after euthanasia (ODE). The first international roundtable on ODE was held during the 2021 WONCA family medicine conference as part of a scoping review. It aimed to document practice and related issues to advise patients, professionals, and policymakers, aiding the development of responsible guidelines and helping to navigate the issues. This was achieved through literature searches and national and international stakeholder meetings. Up to 2021, ODE was performed 286 times in Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, and Belgium, including eight cases of ODE from home (ODEH). MAiD was provided 17,217 times (2020) in the eight countries where ODE is permitted. As of 2021, 837 patients (up to 14% of recipients of DCDD donors) had received organs from ODE. ODE raises some important ethical concerns involving patient autonomy, the link between the request for MAiD and the request to donate organs and the increased burden placed on seriously ill MAiD patients.

Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in Canada: practical aspects for healthcare teams.

In this paper we document some of the practical aspects of implementing medical assistance in dying (MAiD) since it became legal in Canada in 2016. The percentage of annual deaths in Canada due to MAiD varies widely, ranging from less than 0.5% in some areas to over 5% in others. By the end of 2019, approximately 13,000 people had an assisted death in Canada (1.6% of all deaths). The average age is 73 years and the majority have cancer (64%), followed by end-stage organ failure (17%), and neurological disease (11%). The safeguards in Canadian law include having two witnesses sign the patient request form, having two independent clinicians agree that the patient is eligible, and requiring a 10-day waiting period after the request is made. Although the criminal law is federal and applies throughout the nation, health services managed provincially, and there are many different models of care being used. Some provinces have standardized prescriptions and procedures for assisted dying with centralized care coordinators supporting both patients and providers. Other provinces expect individual providers to manage all aspects of assisted dying. The procedure and medications are provided free of charge to patients, but it took years before many providers were remunerated for their services. Access for patients has been a problem because there are too few providers of care (especially in rural areas), and many people have difficulty getting accurate information about the process. Many faith-based health care facilities continue to refuse to allow assisted dying within their facilities, so patients requesting MAiD need to be transferred to other locations in their last hours of life. Solutions to these problems have included the development of more training and support for providers and the creation of coordinating centres that provide information and support for patients throughout the process. Telemedicine is used for assessment of eligibility when required, especially during the COVID pandemic. There are similarities in problems of access to all end of life care options, including palliative care and residential hospices. The relationships between providers of assisted dying and specialists in palliative care vary, and examples exist throughout the spectrum from collegial to hostile. This is slowly improving, as individual clinicians gain more experience with patients choosing assisted dying. Public culture is changing as there are more conversations occurring about death and dying.

An entrustable professional activity descriptor for medical aid in dying: a mixed-methods study.

BACKGROUND: In jurisdictions where medical aid in dying (MAiD) is legal, there is an obligation to ensure the competence of those who assess eligibility and provide MAiD to patients. Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are one framework for incorporating competency-based training and assessment into the workplace, so we convened a group of experienced MAiD providers to develop an EPA descriptor for MAiD. METHODS: We performed a mixed-methods sequential qualitative (focus group via 2 teleconferences) and quantitative (survey) study to generate and refine a consensus descriptor using open coding followed by a modified Delphi approach. Participants were experienced MAiD assessors and providers identified purposively from a national community of practice in Canada. RESULTS: Of the 22 MAiD assessors and providers invited to participate in the focus group, 13 (59%) agreed. The focus group divided MAiD into 3 components: assessment, preparation and provision of MAiD. Participants identified key knowledge, skills and attitudes for each component. They also suggested teaching approaches, potential sources of information to evaluate progress and a potential basis for evaluating progress and entrustment. Key points from this descriptor were sent via survey to 88 assessors and providers, of whom 64 (73%) responded. Respondents agreed on all key points except for the conditions of entrustment; these were modified based on feedback and sent back to the respondents for a second Delphi round, where agreement was achieved. INTERPRETATION: We achieved a high degree of agreement on a competency-based descriptor of MAiD in the form of an EPA. This can be used to inform practice standards, curriculum development and/or assessment of competence among learners and practising providers alike.

Barriers to goals of care discussions with seriously ill hospitalized patients and their families: a multicenter survey of clinicians.

IMPORTANCE: Seriously ill hospitalized patients have identified communication and decision making about goals of care as high priorities for quality improvement in end-of-life care. Interventions to improve care are more likely to succeed if tailored to existing barriers. OBJECTIVE: To determine, from the perspective of hospital-based clinicians, (1) barriers impeding communication and decision making about goals of care with seriously ill hospitalized patients and their families and (2) their own willingness and the acceptability for other clinicians to engage in this process. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Multicenter survey of medical teaching units of nurses, internal medicine residents, and staff physicians from participating units at 13 university-based hospitals from 5 Canadian provinces. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Importance of 21 barriers to goals of care discussions rated on a 7-point scale (1 = extremely unimportant; 7 = extremely important). RESULTS: Between September 2012 and March 2013, questionnaires were returned by 1256 of 1617 eligible clinicians, for an overall response rate of 77.7% (512 of 646 nurses [79.3%], 484 of 634 residents [76.3%], 260 of 337 staff physicians [77.2%]). The following family member-related and patient-related factors were consistently identified by all 3 clinician groups as the most important barriers to goals of care discussions: family members' or patients' difficulty accepting a poor prognosis (mean [SD] score, 5.8 [1.2] and 5.6 [1.3], respectively), family members' or patients' difficulty understanding the limitations and complications of life-sustaining treatments (5.8 [1.2] for both groups), disagreement among family members about goals of care (5.8 [1.2]), and patients' incapacity to make goals of care decisions (5.6 [1.2]). Clinicians perceived their own skills and system factors as less important barriers. Participants viewed it as acceptable for all clinician groups to engage in goals of care discussions-including a role for advance practice nurses, nurses, and social workers to initiate goals of care discussions and be a decision coach. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Hospital-based clinicians perceive family member-related and patient-related factors as the most important barriers to goals of care discussions. All health care professionals were viewed as playing important roles in addressing goals of care. These findings can inform the design of future interventions to improve communication and decision making about goals of care.

Intravenous lipid emulsion therapy for sustained release diltiazem poisoning: a case report.

We present a case of refractory cardiogenic shock secondary to sustained release diltiazem poisoning.  Intravenous lipid emulsion therapy was initiated approximately 13 hours after ingestion. Vasopressors were weaned off hours after initiation of intravenous lipid emulsion therapy and the patient went on to make a full recovery.  This report adds to the paucity of data on intravenous lipid emulsion rescue therapy in sustained release diltiazem poisoning. We hypothesize that the intravenous lipid emulsion may have mediated its favorable hemodynamic effects via increases in myocardial calcium concentration with resultant increased inotropy.

Practical lessons from the first outbreaks: clinical presentation, obstacles, and management strategies for severe pandemic (pH1N1) 2009 influenza pneumonitis.

During the initial spring wave of novel influenza pH1N1 (2009), several North American cities experienced localized epidemics that served as a harbinger of the larger second Fall wave of infection. The city of Winnipeg, the capital of the province of Manitoba in central Canada, was one of the first in North America to deal with a rapid presentation of large numbers of patients requiring critical care services resulting from pandemic (pH1N1) 2009 influenza-associated respiratory failure. Mexico City, Orlando, FL, and Salt Lake City, UT, were other Northern Hemisphere sites of heavy disease activity during the spring wave of the pandemic. This article is written in a narrative format that allows the reader to understand the problems (both major and mundane, anticipated and unexpected) experienced by healthcare workers in these sites during this pandemic. Descriptions cover a range of issues and difficulties that caused significant stress to the operations of intensive care units in these cities. We hope to offer some insight into potential pitfalls and problems that may be experienced by other centers and provide some potential approaches to addressing these issues.

Critically ill patients with 2009 influenza A(H1N1) infection in Canada.

CONTEXT: Between March and July 2009, the largest number of confirmed cases of 2009 influenza A(H1N1) infection occurred in North America. OBJECTIVE: To describe characteristics, treatment, and outcomes of critically ill patients in Canada with 2009 influenza A(H1N1) infection. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: A prospective observational study of 168 critically ill patients with 2009 influenza A(H1N1) infection in 38 adult and pediatric intensive care units (ICUs) in Canada between April 16 and August 12, 2009. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measures were 28-day and 90-day mortality. Secondary outcomes included frequency and duration of mechanical ventilation and duration of ICU stay. RESULTS: Critical illness occurred in 215 patients with confirmed (n = 162), probable (n = 6), or suspected (n = 47) community-acquired 2009 influenza A(H1N1) infection. Among the 168 patients with confirmed or probable 2009 influenza A(H1N1), the mean (SD) age was 32.3 (21.4) years; 113 were female (67.3%) and 50 were children (29.8%). Overall mortality among critically ill patients at 28 days was 14.3% (95% confidence interval, 9.5%-20.7%). There were 43 patients who were aboriginal Canadians (25.6%). The median time from symptom onset to hospital admission was 4 days (interquartile range [IQR], 2-7 days) and from hospitalization to ICU admission was 1 day (IQR, 0-2 days). Shock and nonpulmonary acute organ dysfunction was common (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment mean [SD] score of 6.8 [3.6] on day 1). Neuraminidase inhibitors were administered to 152 patients (90.5%). All patients were severely hypoxemic (mean [SD] ratio of Pao(2) to fraction of inspired oxygen [Fio(2)] of 147 [128] mm Hg) at ICU admission. Mechanical ventilation was received by 136 patients (81.0%). The median duration of ventilation was 12 days (IQR, 6-20 days) and ICU stay was 12 days (IQR, 5-20 days). Lung rescue therapies included neuromuscular blockade (28% of patients), inhaled nitric oxide (13.7%), high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (11.9%), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (4.2%), and prone positioning ventilation (3.0%). Overall mortality among critically ill patients at 90 days was 17.3% (95% confidence interval, 12.0%-24.0%; n = 29). CONCLUSION: Critical illness due to 2009 influenza A(H1N1) in Canada occurred rapidly after hospital admission, often in young adults, and was associated with severe hypoxemia, multisystem organ failure, a requirement for prolonged mechanical ventilation, and the frequent use of rescue therapies.