Statistics and Safeguards: Disrupting Death with Dr. James Downar

“ 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 Toronto. He has a Master’s degree in Bioethics from the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto. He is currently Professor and Head of the Division of Palliative Care at the University of Ottawa, where he holds a Clinical Research Chair in Palliative and End of Life Care. He is an adjunct professor at the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at the Queensland University of Technology. He is the current President of the Canadian Critical Care Society and co-chair of the Pan-Canadian Palliative Care Research Collaborative.
He has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed publications and was the principal investigator on more than 30 peer-reviewed grants on topics such as medical aid in dying; communication and decision-making for serious illness; palliative care in the critical care setting; grief and bereavement; and the treatment of psychological and existential distress in advanced illness. 
In 2025, he received the King Charles III Coronation medal for contributions to Palliative Care in Canada, and in 2021 he received the Award of Excellence from the Ontario Medical Association’s Section on Palliative Medicine.
Music for Disrupting Death was created by the ever-lovely Sarah McInnis. Sarah is a music therapist, a songwriter, a multi-instrumentalist and End-of-Life Doula. In 2021, Sarah began The Legacy Song Project, writing original songs for folks at the end-of-life, and for folks who have lost loved ones. To learn more about Sarah, visit her website https://sarahmcinnis.com.
This episode of Disrupting Death was produced by Keri-Lyn Durant.