Dying - Considerations Concerning the Passage from Life to Death
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/official1174
- Date
- 1977 August
- Source
- General Synod. Minutes
- Type
- Act 70
- Mover
- Mr. P.J. Andrewes
- Seconder
- The Rev. P.C. Jefferson
- Text of motion
- That
- a) the report be sent back to the Task Force or a successor group for re-writing in the light of the total discussion on the floor of Synod, with a clear emphasis on the Christian concern for the sanctity of human life; such re-written report to be published for distribution and study on the authority of the National Executive Council.
- b) the Task Force be encouraged to receive submissions from all interested bodies and individuals such as other churches, The Canadian Association for the Mentally Retarded, the Address of Mr. Justice Lamer of the Canadian Law Reform Commission, etc.; and
- c) in the meantime Recommendations 2 and 3 on pages 18 and 19 of the interim Report be accepted as a basis for ecumenical action from the present time.
- After extensive discussion and debate the Motion was put and CARRIED ACT 70
- Notes
- The Recommendations referred to in paragraph (c) of the Resolution are:
- 2) Education
- A) That the Church recognize its responsibility to provide educational programmes to effect a better understanding of the needs of the dying patient, of those responsible for the patient's welfare and of the next of kin. We believe that these programmes should focus on a number of specific areas.
- a) The delineation, in the continuing education of clergy, of their special role with the dying patient and with their immediate families.
- b) The inclusion of similar training and experience within the academic and pastoral programmes of theological colleges.
- c) To equip church people for effective ministry to the terminally ill in conjunction with the medical team and for service in volunteer Home Care programmes of hospitals.
- d) The establishment of Grief Recovery groups to enable the bereaved to identify and reconcile their feeling of guilt and grief.
- e) The development in the Church and in society at large of a more realistic and wholesome attitude to and acceptance of the dying process and of death itself.
- B) a) That the Church urge local professional associations to initiate programmes of continuing education for doctors and nurses to develop more skillful and compassionate care of the dying and bereaved.
- b) That the Church emphasize the importance of similar training in the curricula of all health care teaching institutions.
- 3. Patient Care
- A) That the Church actively support and encourage all persons and institutions which provide effective care for the terminally ill especially the Palliative Care Units at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal and at St. Boniface Hospital, Winnipeg, working toward the establishment of similar units in other hospitals.
- B) That the Church make continuing representations to provincial governments for the provision on a growing scale of small, independent units for the care of terminal patients in which conditions allow the development of close relations between patients, their families and those who care for them.
- C) That the Church urge hospitals to expand Home Care programmes in the community with the support of visiting nurses, physician home visits and ancillary services so that dying patients may have the option of remaining at home in the care of their families (see Malkin, S.: "Care of the terminally ill at home", "Canadian Medical Association Journal" 115 (July 17, 1976), p.129
- D) That the Church cooperate at the local level with appropriate Medical Boards, District Health Councils, professional societies, provincial associations and other agencies to initiate feasibility studies for improving further the care of dying patients and that findings be forwarded to provincial and the federal governments.
- Subjects
- Euthanasia - Canada
- Euthanasia - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Death - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Terminal care - Canada
- Terminal care - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Palliative care - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Bioethics - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Church work with the bereaved - Anglican Church of Canada