Since 2016, Canada’s practice of offering MAID has followed a trajectory of ever-expanding eligibility. The ultimate expansion would make MAID available to anyone who wanted it, for any reason.
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Articles on medical assistance in dying
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Canada’s planned expansion of MAID to mental illness is based on ignorance — if not outright disregard — of fundamental suicide prevention principles.
For people to access medical assistance in dying (MAID) requires health-care professionals willing to provide the service. The reasons health-care providers choose not to participate are important.
Research suggests that expanded access to MAiD tends to benefit people with wealth and privilege, offering them choices and autonomy. At the same time, it puts marginalized people at risk.
Palliative care is about living well and meeting patients’ goals, but referral can be more complex than access to medical assistance in dying (MAID). Palliative care should be as accessible as MAID.
The fundamental underpinning of all MAID requests is supposed to be the presence of an incurable medical condition, but it’s not possible to predict that a mental illness will not improve.
Expanding access to medical assistance in dying (MAID) to those not terminally ill puts vulnerable people at risk of feeling pressured into MAID, and doctors at risk of being forced to facilitate it.
Recent stories in the media highlight the idea of suicide tourism to Switzerland. But what does that mean? How is the Swiss view of assisted dying different from the Canadian one?
Top contributors
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Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
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Adjunct Professor of Disability Ethics, John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre, University of Alberta
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PhD Candidate in Sociology and Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar, Université de Montréal and Université de Lausanne, Université de Montréal
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Division Chair & Associate Professor of Palliative Medicine, Queen's University, Ontario
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Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta
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Assistant Professor, Faculty of Nursing, University of Regina
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Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Waterloo
