A Multidisciplinary and Integrated Conversation on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in Canada

The BCPA invites you to join us via Zoom on Monday, April 17, 2023, for four 90-minute workshops exploring the medical, ethical, and psychological implications of MAiD.

In June 2016, the federal legislation that allows eligible Canadian adults to request Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) was introduced. Allowing access to MAiD for persons meeting the eligibility criteria has been positioned as an avenue to reduce unnecessary suffering in Canada. Following consultations with a number of groups, the MAiD eligibility criteria and application process was revised and the changes introduced in March 2021. The BCPA in its continued quest to advance psychology and the psychological well-being of all British Columbians, is creating space for a multidisciplinary and integrated conversation on MAiD in Canada.

We invite you to register to be part of this one-day event where our presenters will introduce us to the medical, ethical, and psychological aspects of MAiD.

THE SESSIONS:

Presenters Bio:

Dr. Tanja Daws
Dr. Daws was born and raised in South Africa. She obtained a BSc and BSc Honours degree in Human Physiology before entering medical school at the University of Pretoria. She graduated in 2000 and practiced as a family physician before moving to Canada in 2009.  She provides Family Medicine care to patients in her own practice and consults on patients with chronic pain, migraine and MAID.

As one of the first providers of Medical Assistance in Dying upon it becoming legal in 2016, she teaches and mentors physicians, nurse practitioners and medical residents in MAID. She assesses and provides for patients who wish to have MAID locally and in other communities as needed. Dr. Daws is a consultant for the RACE line for physicians in BC and Yukon. She is a founding member of CAMAP (Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers) and is a member of the Physician Advisory Council for Dying With Dignity Canada. She has presented on MAID internationally. She is a clinical instructor in Family Medicine at UBC. 

Alexandra Olmos Pérez, LL.B, MSc, PhD (she/her) 
Ethicist, PHSA Ethics Service 
Alexandra is currently an ethicist working for the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), where she provides consultation services through the Ethics Department. She is originally from Mexico, and completed her education at the national University (UNAM). She has a law background, and a Masters and PhD in Bioethics. Before she settled in Canada, she worked in both the private and public sector in Mexico, including working at the National Bioethics Commission and the National Human Rights Commission. She also has experience teaching bioethics, and has several publications on human rights, health ethics and bioethics, including a book on advanced directives in the Mexican context.  

Dr Izabela Schultz R. Psych.
Dr. Izabela Schultz, R.Psych., Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP), is a founder and director of the CORTEX Centre for Advanced Assessment in Vancouver; a  private research-to-practice venture and medicolegal expert network. Her practice areas are neuropsychology and clinical psychology. She has a particular interest in the assessment of decision making capacities, including high-gravity life, health and legal scenarios, and mental fitness for work. In over two decades as a professor of rehabilitation counselling psychology at the University of British Columbia, she conducted major projects on disability prediction and prevention in vulnerable populations and medicolegal aspects of mental health disability, publishing seven books in the field. In addition to her research awards, Dr. Schultz is a recipient of BCPA  Parker Davidson Award,  APA  Award for Distinguished Contribution to Disability Issues in Psychology, and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Association for Scientific Advancement for Psychological Injury and the Law. She was a Co-Chair of the APAs Task Force on the Guidelines for Assessment and Treatment for Persons Who Have Disability.  

Pablita Thomas, MBA, BA Sc
Pablita Thomas is the Executive Director of BC Hospice Palliative Care Association and has worked in the nonprofit and public sector for over 15 years, in government policy relations, indigenous affairs, communications, advocacy, direct service, fund development and membership management. Pablita is passionate about access to care for those who need it most in our communities and around the world. She sits on the BC Rural Health Linked Sectors as a sector contributor and on the Board of CARIPALCA – The Caribbean Palliative Care Association, a regional body that advocates, educates and aims to represent the palliative care community of the CARICOM Caribbean countries.

For more information on Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) law, please visit https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/ad-am/bk-di.html

Registrations end Sunday 16th, 2023 at 5 PM PST