There is a lot of noise and confusion around what is known as "end of life issues". Simply speaking, end of life issues merely refers to decisions made by a patient and their family about what kind of treatments to accept or decline that impact their mortality or health.

As sad as it is, sometimes, in spite of treatment, a condition or illness will cause death. In those cases, patients and their families can decide what they do and do not want done. They can opt for aggressive treatments that might prolong their life, or they may opt to stop treatments altogether which could mean they die sooner, but more comfortably.

True care at the end of life focuses on making patients comfortable. Modern medicine has come a long way in pain management. Patients still receive medicine and treatment to control pain and other uncomfortable symptoms. Some patients may choose to die at home while others opt to enter a hospital, hospice or palliative care facility. There are many emotionally charged decisions to be made around death, and there are many services available to help deal with these issues.

However, there are important public policy debates surrounding us today, concerning euthanasia and assisted suicide as options for dealing with end of life. The outcome of this public debate has the power to profoundly affect family relationships, interactions between doctors and patients, insurance issues, and concepts of basic ethical behaviour.

No one would ever deny that compassion for the suffering and dying is at the heart of the debate. Who would ever want to see a loved one suffer in any way, if it could be possible to avoid it? Any decision made at the end of life is not an easy one, and as challenging as it is, thinking forward to the far reaching potential effects of euthanasia and assisted suicide on society as a whole is something we are all responsible for.