The pandemic and the delivery of palliative care and MAiD: What was the impact?

COVID changed healthcare forever. But behind the headlines and news coverage of the emergency rooms and intensive care units, remove the ICUs, another, quieter battle raged on. Within the field of palliative care, the ill and vulnerable were suffering greater distress and their clinicians were struggling to provide care.

Shortages of Palliative Care Medications in Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Gambling with Suffering.

Patients with serious illnesses such as cancer, advanced organ failure, dementia and COVID-19 rely on medications to alleviate suffering from uncontrolled symptoms. Numerous actual or threatened shortages of key medications used to provide palliation have been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article explores the nature of these shortages, factors that have contributed to them and strategies to mitigate them. It calls on all levels of the healthcare system and the government to address this problem. Shortages in these medications are as serious as shortages in medications used to cure or control diseases.