Description
- Abstract:
- Canada’s medical aid in dying (MAID) policy, which has given rise to several controversial reports of people “choosing” MAID due to a lack of basic resources to manage their conditions, has recently stirred debates about the limits of physician-assisted suicide. We administered an online survey to 2140 Canadians, matched by age, gender, education, household income and province, to assess the Canadian public’s attitudes toward MAID when they are informed by the practical and ethical challenges discussed in the clinical ethics literature. We assessed participants’ level of knowledge and opinions about MAID, including the scheduled expansion of Canadian MAID to include mental illnesses in March of 2024, and found gaps in the public’s knowledge about eligibility conditions for MAID as well as a low level of support for MAID for mental illnesses. We then presented four case scenarios involving MAID applicants with medical or psychiatric illnesses who refuse or cannot afford medically effective treatment due to the controversial nature of this practice, and asked respondents for their opinions on the doctor’s role in providing MAID for each scenario. We found low levels of support for MAID across all four case scenarios, and the highest agreement with statements regarding the doctor’s role in determining the “last resort” nature of the patient’s MAID request. These results can help us determine the Canadian public’s level of understanding and support for MAID in certain situations, and their opinions on the limits of this practice within the boundaries of the medical profession. In addition, the public’s low level of support for psychiatric MAID indicates a need for further political discussion regarding the scheduled expansion of MAID in March of 2024.
- Notes:
- Scholarly concentration: Medical Humanities and Ethics
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Citation
Choi, William, Astrachan, Isabel, Sinaii, Ninet, et al.,
"The Canadian public’s attitude towards Medical Assistance in Dying for patients who refuse or cannot afford treatments and resources"
(2023).
Warren Alpert Medical School Academic Symposium.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/1k54-cf30
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Warren Alpert Medical School Academic Symposium
The Warren Alpert Medical School Academic Symposium is an annual event at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University that provides Year II medical students a venue to present their summer research in a poster format. Participation in the Symposium …...