Oncologists communicating with patients about assisted dying

Across all jurisdictions in which assisted dying is legally permissible, cancer is the primary reported underlying diagnosis. Therefore, oncologists are likely to be asked about assisted dying and should be equipped to respond to inquiries or requests for assisted dying. Because Medical Assistance in Dying was legalized in Canada in 2016, it is a relatively new end-of-life practice and has prompted the need to revisit the academic literature to inform communication with patients about assisted dying.

We reviewed applicable literature published in the past 5 years, pertaining to assisted dying and communication. In total, 86 articles were identified, 21 were flagged as relevant to review in detail, and six were included in the review. Key themes included perceived barriers and benefits to communicating with patients on the topic, pragmatic approaches for facilitating the conversation with patients, and the issue of proactively discussing assisted dying by broaching it as an option with patients.

These findings indicate that there is still discomfort around having conversations about assisted dying with patients but new tools and approaches are being developed to support the practice.