Disrupting Death

“I think it's important to have the opportunity to hear that people live through this, and people can be okay on the other side as surviving family members. I think in a way, the process of grief for losing both of my parents at a very young age in a lot of ways to me was made easier because of the conversations we had leading up to their passing and the way in which they passed with MAiD.”

This month, Kathy and Keri-L...

“We have to support people in making the decisions they want to make. So decisions have to be free, they have to be informed, and they must be made by capable individuals. And so we need to be careful not to set up protection of the vulnerable as oppositional to autonomy. I think they're complementary. And so we need to be careful not to set up protection of the vulnerable as oppositional to autonomy. I think they're compleme...

“Because with each of these movements, when I talk about the pendulum, there will be people that will be left behind. There will be gaps that are created. There will be complexity of the human circumstance that's going to be highlighted. And, from a MAiDHouse perspective, how do we support them? How do we help, guide them? And who are the people within our communities that can do that?” 

In this episode, Kathy and...

“ I'm not sure what my hopes are. I hope we learn how to die well, and that doesn't mean dying efficiently. It means deep dying infused with wonder and mystery and waiting in the unknown.”

This month, Kathy and Keri-Lyn are excited to discuss spirituality, mortality, and exits with David Maginley.

David Maginley is a Canadian psychospiritual specialist, educator, and award-winning author with over 25 years of clinical...

“So I think it's on all of us to hold multiple truths at once, to respect autonomy, but also advocate for the conditions that make autonomy meaningful for people, and to ensure that when we talk about death, we're actually equally committed to talking about life.”

Kathy and Keri-Lyn are very pleased and privileged to be sitting down with Dr. Naheed Dosani, to talk about dignity, equity, and why he can be called an Orig...

 But for a lot of people, especially my patients, and I'm not just talking about MAiD, I'm talking about in life in general, the concept of autonomy is highly limited by what is actually available to them, right? So in terms of what are my options for life might be very different for what my patients' options are.

This month, Kathy and Keri-Lyn are grateful to sit down with Dr. Ramona Coelho to talk about the necessity for safegua...

“And through both experiences, what became clear to me is that systems do not only determine access to death, they shape how families are able to show up for one another before and after it.”

Kathy and Keri-Lyn are privileged to share this special February episode in which guest Cindy Lang recounts her story of the important work she does and the loss of two beloved people in her family. 

Cindy J. Lang, RSW is a gr...

 ”And so, in my perfect world, over the next decade, we would … really dwell in the grey a little bit more and be honest with one another about how we're making sense of this, about what we feel comfortable with, what we don't feel comfortable with. Because if you can't have those conversations, everything ends up on one side of the divide or the other, and we go forward in a polarised manner.”

In the first episo...

“I think if the exhibit is able to motivate a conversation between someone and another person in their life about what their wishes might be I think we will have succeeded.” 

December has Kathy and Keri-Lyn excited to be sitting down to chat about palliative and end-of-life research and exhibits with Dr. Sarina Isenberg, Chair in Mixed Methods Palliative Care Research at Bruyère Research Institute. 

Dr. Isenbe...

“People should be allowed to be authors of their own lives to make decisions for themselves if they have the capacity to do and having doctors say, or having the government say we don't think you're actually, able or qualified to make this decision. You need our approval. I think that's ethically unjustified.” In this episode, Kathy and Keri-Lyn wax philosophical with Eric Mathison, PhD, contemplating clinical and pract...

“ It's brought some hope that maybe it'll be different for the generation, the young disabled girl who's just getting the diagnosis today will be able to see a few examples anyway out there of somebody who had a life and who got to live and thrive.”

Dear listeners, this month Kathy and Keri-Lyn are privileged to share a conversation with April Hubbard, a performer, arts administrator, accessibility consultant, and a Mad...

 Grief matters because it happens to all of us. 

In this episode, Kathy and Keri-Lyn are fortunate to converse with Drs. Susan Cadell and Mary Ellen Macdonald, co-creators of Grief Matters, a Canadian organization that aims to improve how people understand and make room for grief, using creative, community-based activities. They use the framework of ‘grief literacy’ to increase knowledge, skills, and actions about ...

“ She's in her favourite chair. She's surrounded by loved ones. She's got a supportive GP. There's love and laughter, and I can't imagine anything better for the very final moments of your life. And I have to just say I'm just really thankful, one, to be a Canadian and that she has this option, but also that I had the opportunity to be there and that our family got to have these really beautiful final moments with her.”

“ Ignorance is not a safeguard.”  In this episode, a very fortunate Kathy and Keri-Lyn sit down with Dr. James Downar, a Critical Care and Palliative Care physician in Ottawa, for a conversation about the data around MAiD and access to palliative care.   Dr. Downar graduated from McGill Medical School and completed residency training in Internal Medicine, Critical Care and Palliative Care at the University of ...

 In the context of any kind of illness, whether it's the child's illness, a family member's illness, somebody's sudden death or MAiD, if we recognise that children have these rights to access information and to express themselves, it's very hard to justify not giving them a choice about having information. In this episode, Kathy and Keri-Lyn have the great pleasure and privilege of speaking with Ceilidh Eaton Russell, a Certified ...

This month’s episode of Disrupting Death has Kathy and Keri-Lyn have the pleasure of speaking with Paul Magennis, a Registered Nurse and educator on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in British Columbia and co-creator of MAiD in Canada, a Substack newsletter that tackles misinformation and promotes education about medical assistance in dying. 

With over seven years of experience in MAiD, Paul has the expertise to provid...

 ”I think we need to know that the possibilities are out there, that MAiD's not just a medical procedure, that even though this healthcare professional is coming with their kit and their medications and all of their social authority that they bring with them, that we get to slow it down and do some important things to remember our person.” This month, Kathy and Keri-Lyn have the pleasure and privilege of sitting down wi...

“When we're brought into this world more often than not … there's all this love coming for birthing in a human being to this world, right? And I felt like that same kind of energy  was given to them on their way out.”

This month, your hosts of Disrupting Death sit down with Chris Reid, a storyteller, military veteran, and founder of Stretch Creative, about his experiences in 2024 when two very important peop...