Members of Ontario’s government-appointed medical assistance in dying (MAID) review panel are raising concerns about doctors’ eligibility determinations under the expanded rules, noting that in some cases, patients qualified for assisted death after refusing available health care.
The review of three recent MAID cases has prompted “significant” discussion among members of Ontario’s MAID Death Review Committee, as some of the patients involved had conditions that could have improved if they had accepted care, according to the committee’s latest report, titled “Evaluating Incurability, Advanced State of Irreversible Decline in Capability, and Reasonably Foreseeable Natural Death.”
In three cases that are cited in the report, the patients were experiencing profound psychological suffering alongside physical conditions such as chronic illness or disability. This led them to decline care, despite being offered various medical and support options by MAID assessors, the report noted….