LAUSR

I n June 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada’s Carter decision enabled Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) as a legal option for all eligible Canadians to end their life with the assistance of a physician or nurse practitioner. Patients must have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” to be eligible, and before the Truchon 2019 ruling, it was also a requirement that a natural death was judged to be reasonably foreseeable. In Canada, MAID includes both provider-assisted suicide (the prescription of lethal medication(s) by a provider to a patient for self-administration) and voluntary euthanasia (the administration of lethal medication (s) to a patient by a provider, typically by the intravenous route). The law stipulates a minimum 10-day waiting period between the patient’s request for the procedure and the procedure occurring, along with two independent providers qualifying the patient for eligibility. As well, the patient must also have the capacity to make their own medical decisions during assessments and on the day of the procedure. Medical Assistance in Dying enables patients to take control of their dying process and to cease their prolonged suffering. Within the United States, voluntary euthanasia remains an illegal procedure, while medical aid in dying is legal in eight American states. This procedure is a new phenomenon that has sparked much ethical debate and continues to be met with uncertainty from the medical field worldwide. The MAID procedure at our local hospital was adapted from the Belgian and Quebec protocols with input from the physician MAID provider group. When a patient requests a MAID assessment, the patients and families are educated about the procedure by the MAID provider, the MAID assessor, and the MAID program navigator. The provider (either a physician or a nurse practitioner) has at least two meetings with the patient and their family: during the assessment and again before the procedure. Providers generally explain the entire procedure to patients and families and then answer questions. The same