MAiD

What Canada can learn about MAiD for mental illness from Belgium and the Netherlands

Canadians are clearly divided on MAiD based solely on mental illness. From federal laws and legal cases to medical guidelines and published studies in Belgium and the Netherlands, we can make more informed decisions regarding MAiD eligibility for psychiatric patients.

 ​​MAiD mental-health debate should be about ‘agency’, not ‘autonomy’

I do believe that the option of MAiD may be good for a very small number of patients. However, I believe the issue is not about “autonomy” but “agency.”

Psychiatry’s cognitive dissonance problem

Ottawa has decided to delay legislation that would expand MAiD to those with mental illness. But having a mental illness should not preclude one from decision-making related to suffering and end-of-life care.

The right to die: Should MAiD apply to those whose sole condition is mental illness?

With the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to include those whose sole condition is mental illness fast approaching, we asked a panel of experts whether they felt this was a move in the right direction — and what they hope to see moving forward.

Mental health and MAID: An ongoing challenge

Parliament is looking into offering MAiD to people whose only underlying condition is a mental illness. But this might be premature. After all, shouldn't we first improve mental health care in Canada?

New MAiD legislation calls for the wise words of a pioneer

The new MAiD law should provoke reflection about our own attitudes toward death. A place to start is a wise 12-minute video produced by a prominent geriatrician shortly before his own medically assisted death.

MAiD debate must be paused until we have dealt with COVID-19

Rather than rushing to amend our Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) law, Parliament should be focused on expanding access to social services.

The timing could hardly be worse

You want to introduce fundamental change to a controversial practice during a pandemic? Bill C-7 will become law while every healthcare organization in the country is swamped by the worst crisis in living memory.

Last rights: Connecting the space between palliative care and MAiD

For my Mom, palliative care and MAiD unfolded gracefully together. My family’s experience is one among many that might prompt Canada’s palliative care organizations to reconsider their relationship to MAiD

The MAiD 10-day waiting period: is it doing more harm than good?

Three years post legislation, it is time to reflect on whether the 10-day waiting period is an effective mechanism for confirming that a wish is enduring.

Expanding MAiD criteria could irreversibly harm the most vulnerable

Since most MAiD requests stem from concerns over autonomy and control, we must ask ourselves if supporting the expansion of MAiD for a few justifies exposing an ever-increasing number of vulnerable patients to its irreversible harms.

Determining who gets to access Medical Assistance in Dying is all of our responsibility

In relying on our judicial system to decide who has the right to access MAiD as a means to relieve intolerable suffering, we are delaying important decisions on how to deliver high-quality end-of-life care to all Canadians.

An Ounce of Prevention: Pantoprazole in the Intensive Care Unit and Aspirin for Primary Prevention in Diabetes

Should Canada introduce advance requests for MAID?

Ultimately, ending someone’s life who cannot actively consent to it at that moment, says Wales, “is something to think about very seriously.”

We like to talk about “a good death.” But how often does this really happen?

A cardiologist told me that it is important that people have a good death. I thought of two patients who had recently died. Would they say they experienced a good death?

“Frailty can be just as grievous and irremediable as cancer”

Depression and MAID: Terminally ill patients are often depressed. But that doesn’t mean they’re incompetent.

Depression biases a person’s outlook, but bias is not the same as mental incompetence. Doctors must balance protecting patients in vulnerable mental states from exercising poor judgment against respecting their autonomy.

Do patients have recourse if they’re denied medical assistance in dying?

Summer Replay: Calling Home – Accuracy of The Surprise Question, Medical Assistance in Dying, and SGLT2 Inhibitors & DKA

Room for improvement in Ontario’s MAID Care Coordination Service