Transformational Insight in Pediatric Palliative Care

"This was a child who really needed more than she could access, good pain and symptom control. [6-year-old child in a Rohingya refugee camp in severe pain, near end-of-life]."

"She [her memory] has stayed with me."

"It is not just about saving peoples' lives. It is just as important to relieve peoples' suffering. There is a moral obligation to the patient in front of you to give them good care, to relieve suffering."

"We can't say 'We can help them, just put them over there'."

Dr. Megan Doherty, palliative pediatric care physician, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)

Dr. Megan Doherty is receiving an award for the work she has done globally making sure children in some of the toughest situations in the world (including refugee camps), get the kind of palliative care that children in Ottawa receive. Photographed Wednesday at Roger Neilson House in Ottawa. Photo by Julie Oliver /POSTMEDIA

 

The image of the suffering child, a little girl whose name was Taslim, remained with Dr. Doherty over the years "like a guiding light", in fact steadily guiding her toward her life's focus in bringing palliative care to children who live in some of the most difficult world conditions; in refugee camps and settlements. Dr. Doherty has spent her professional life persuading the global medical community that with training, access to medication and a finer understanding of the need for pain management, children like Taslim deserve end-of-life care under any circumstances.

A palliative care specialist at CHEO, and director of the pediatric palliative care residency program, Dr. Doherty was honoured by the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians for her humanitarian work, making "a great impact" in serving suffering children whose medical conditions place them in a category of early death.

"When I started, there were no palliative programs anywhere in the world for children."

"Everything I do in palliative care is better because of everything I do internationally. I have learned to teach better, how to break down what I do into more operation steps, how to teach communication, how to help people who haven't had a lot of training to better communicate with children and their families."

Dr. Megan Doherty, pediatric palliative care physician

Dr. Megan Doherty (L) and palliative care consultant Dr. Spandana Rayala following a palliative care workshop at the Hyderabad Centre for Palliative Care in Hyderabad, India. Photo by Sandra Broughton /TWO WORLDS CANCER COLLABORATION

 

She is a pediatric palliative director with Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration and other organizations, with which she has helped to develop training, guidelines and materials for physicians, nurses and community health workers to bring palliative care to children throughout Asia and other regions of the world. She also works to break down barriers making it difficult to access medicine for patients in need of palliative care during humanitarian crises.

Advocating for oral morphine availability and the development of pediatric pain and palliative care policies and guidelines are among her duties. She has encountered long-held beliefs preventing children from accessing palliative care. Arguments that urgent humanitarian efforts were too stretched in saving the lives of people, to venture beyond that goal. She has been witness to growing awareness through her own work of the need for pediatric palliative care during her years of global humanitarian work.

Dr. Doherty feels that her work in helping develop systems to train and support health workers in the provision of palliative care makes a large impact. She provides telemedicine advice on a weekly basis around the world. Operating within CHEO was for her the perfect fit since it is one of the few centres in Canada with a developed pediatric palliative care program. She has been allowed to make an impact with humanitarian work through the support given her at CHEO. In this relatively new field of pediatric palliative care, CHEO is the first Canadian hospital to offer a medical residence in pediatric palliative care.

Dr. Megan Doherty checks on the 15-day-old Mallesh at the Mandara Hospice for Children in Hyderabad, India, March 16, 2022. Photo by Harsha Vadlamani /TWO WORLDS CANCER COLLABORATION

"This is a place where there is so much need but you can make such a profound difference for patients and families."

"It is transformational and so rewarding."

Dr. Megan Doherty