Resource Tag: MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN DYING (MAID)

This report reflects the narrow scope of the committee’s mandate; it is not a full review of MAID in Canada. The committee, which based its report and recommendations solely on witness testimony, heard conflicting views about Canada’s readiness for MAID MD-SUMC. While some witnesses said Canada is clearly ready, others stated that preparations are still […]

Objective: This lived experience-engaged study aims to understand patient and family perspectives on the relationship between suicidality and medical assistance in dying when the sole underlying medical condition is mental illness (MAiD MI-SUMC). Method: Thirty individuals with mental illness (age M =41.8 years, SD=14.2) and 25 family members (age M =47.5 years, SD=16.0 ) participated […]

This Fourth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying presents data for the 2022 calendar year collected under the 2018 Regulations for the Monitoring of Medical Assistance in Dying. It builds upon the First, Second and  Third Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying. With four full years of data collection now complete under the […]

This book, written both for a Canadian and an international readership, provides a multidisciplinary review of the framework and performance of the Canadian Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program. In the first five years (2015-2021) of operation, this program delivered voluntary euthanasia and assistance in suicide to over 30,000 Canadian residents, presently representing a 30% […]

The introduction of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) legislation in 2016 has affected the suicide prevention community in significant ways. People considering suicide and people considering MAID when their death is reasonably foreseeable and they are in irremediable physical circumstances may both express a wish to die. These two groups can be considered distinct entities, […]

This book, written both for a Canadian and an international readership, provides a multidisciplinary review of the framework and performance of the Canadian Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program. In the first five years (2015-2021) of operation, this program delivered voluntary euthanasia and assistance in suicide to over 30,000 Canadian residents, presently representing a 30% annual […]

Access for MAID MD-SUMC was to be permitted as of March 2023. Applying for MAID MD-SUMC would also be under track two. As mentioned above, the committee released an interim report on mental disorder in June 2022 that discusses issues related to MAID MD-SUMC. The committee heard concerns that more time was needed to make […]

On March 17, 2021, Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying) received Royal Assent and came into force. This Bill amended Canada’s original 2016 MAiD legislation, Bill C-14, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying). The effect of Bill C-7 […]

The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (the Committee) was re-created in March 2022 and tasked with reviewing “the provisions of the Criminal Code relating to  medical assistance in dying and their application, including but not limited to issues relating to mature minors, advance requests, mental illness, the state of palliative care in […]

The desire to die brings about the most radical consequences that can occur in a human life. It therefore requires a high degree of justification. Questions have been raised as to whether this justification can be given in the case of a suicide desire in mental illness. Landmark court  decisions and the practice of assisted […]

Background: Euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) are practices that aim to alleviate the suffering of people with life-limiting illnesses, but are controversial. One area of debate is the relationship between EAS and suicide rates in the population, where there have been claims that availability of EAS will reduce the number of self-initiated deaths (EAS and […]

Background Involuntary commitment of the mentally ill and forced treatment of suicidal persons are practiced worldwide, with underlying premises that contrast with the respect for autonomy upon which Medically Assisted Death (MAD) (euthanasia and assisted suicide) for the mentally ill is based. Methodology We trace the transition from paternalistic mass incarcerations to hospitalization only for […]

Based on a comparison of accounts by relatives of elderly people who died by suicide in France and by assisted suicide in Switzerland, this article analyzes the place of family members and their interpretations of the suicide of their elderly relative. It highlights the way the societal and legal context influences the collection of data, […]

SUMMARY This enactment amends the Criminal Code to, among other things, (a) repeal the provision that requires a person’s natural death be reasonably foreseeable in order for them to be eligible for medical assistance in dying; (b) specify that persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness are not eligible for medical assistance […]

Medical assistance in dying (MAID) and similar right-to-die laws are becoming increasingly common in jurisdictions across North America and elsewhere. To be eligible for MAID in Canada, requesters must have a serious illness, intolerable suffering, and a reasonably foreseeable natural death. They must also undergo two assessments to confirm eligibility. Although a growing body of […]

Background: Several countries have regulated euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS). Research has looked at the experiences of patients, family, and professionals. However, little is known of the effects on bereaved individuals. Aims: We aimed to assess (a) what is known about the grief and mental health of people bereaved by euthanasia or PAS and (b) the quality of […]

Physician-assisted death for patients suffering from psychiatric disorders is allowed in the Netherlands under certain circumstances. One of the central problems that arise with regard to this practice is the question of whether it is possible to distinguish between suicidality and a request for physician-assisted death. We set up this study to gain insight into […]

With the advent of legalized medical assistance in dying [MAiD] in Canada in 2016, nursing is facing intriguing new ethical and theoretical challenges. Among them is the concept of conscientious objection, which was built into the legislation as a safeguard to protect the rights of healthcare workers who feel they cannot participate in something that […]

This study describes the characteristics of—and the counseling received by—counselees who passed away through self-ingesting self-collected lethal medication after receiving demedicalised assistance in suicide. We analyzed registration forms filled in by counselors working with Foundation De Einder about 273 counselees who passed away from 2011 to 2015. The majority of these counselees had a serious […]

The American Association of Suicidology argued that physician aid-in-dying is not the same as suicide. In this essay, it is noted that suicidal acts by each method chosen for suicide have unique properties and different psychological correlates. Therefore, physician aid-in-dying and physician assisted suicide can be viewed as suicide by a unique method and, therefore, […]

In August 2017, the American Association of Suicidology board passed a statement titled “Suicide” is not the same as “Physician aid in dying,” which was developed partly in response to the fact that aid in dying is now legal in a number of jurisdictions. In Phase 1, eight members of the AAS who had indicated […]

Suicide prevention services do their utmost to prevent suicides with all persons, regardless of the suicidal individual’s characteristics and reasons given for wanting to die. Their assumptions are that doing otherwise constitutes discrimination and that they would venture into an ethical morass if they attempt to determine whether some lives are more worthy of saving […]