Use of MAID in your circles

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JayneWonders

JayneWonders

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Recently an in-law of an in-law exercised their right to MAID.

They had a recurrence of cancer , found in the summer, that was aggressive in spread and they physically were in significant pain, discomfort, losing ability to speak and no reprieve in sight.

It has made me ponder

Are people becoming more acclimatized or accepting of the choice?

I also have a more distant knowledge of someone whose extended family was not aware of their state of health and so the family was not accepting of the usage and was angry.

I wonder what has shifted from 5 years ago in terms of attitude
 
Yes. It’s being normalized and I think that’s awful. It’s the 5th leading cause of death in Canada - and only about 360 out of 18,000 doctors who administer it in Canada, have approved the bulk of them in an average year. Over 600 people have died from MAiD who were not dying since track 2 came into effect in spring of 2021 - and socioeconomics is driving track 2 requests. That’s abominable.
 
There's no policy like MAID here in South Korea. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal. The country has strict laws against these practices, and there's significant cultural and ethical opposition to them. Instead, Korea focuses on palliative care and providing support for patients with terminal illnesses to ensure they receive appropriate medical and emotional care
 
Forcing people to languish in pain and/or misery and wait for almost certain death or no recovery without the option of MAiD is inhumane.

Pushing people into MAiD who are disabled or in discomfort and either not actually dying or not surely dying, is inhumane.

Find the line.
 
Jae said:
Instead, Korea focuses on palliative care and providing support for patients with terminal illnesses to ensure they receive appropriate medical and emotional care
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And this is really where Canada should go, too, even if I am in favour of MAID for terminal (basically the current track 1) as an available option. Good palliative care should really alleviate much of the demand for track 1 MAID.

Not in favour of track 2 or MAID for mental illness, both of which require resources to focus on assistance and treatment, not MAID.
 
chansen said:
Forcing people to languish in pain and/or misery and wait for almost certain death or no recovery without the option of MAiD is inhumane.

Pushing people into MAiD who are disabled or in discomfort and either not actually dying or not surely dying, is inhumane.

Find the line.
Click to expand...
What many people are refusing to recognize is that a line was drawn with track 2. Track 2 is about killing disabled people (including mentally ill people even though there’s no concensus in psychiatry about irremediable and words like suffering and foreseeable are not medical) and it is about socioeconomics. Track 2 is about getting rid of inconvenient people. It wasn’t “supposed to” happen, we kept being told, but it did. DwD won’t stop pushing until every inconvenient and non conforming body and mind “qualifies” to be killed and that becomes a normalized solution to socioeconomic problems in the public eye. That’s the hard truth. And new doctors are being misled to believe they’re doing good. Right now only 360 have done 10+ per year but once they retire a whole new generation is of doctors will be trained through a whole new “lens”. That will attract a new mentality to medicine. Some like Ellen Wiebe who proudly proclaims she’s ended the lives of over 400 people (as of a year ago) seem to get off on it. She’s only recently been investigated for not following the rules.
 
Hi although i appreciate the theoretical discussion, i was hoping to hear what actual usages are in people's circles
 
I've seen a lot of it much on the QT ... do you know that dark silent thing? Que'd ... maybe even diabolical ... cloes TU great enigma ... all that we don't know?

Some declare differently and say they know it all even though they don't know the gloss ... ails 'M! Slicks ...
 
JayneWonders said:
Hi although i appreciate the theoretical discussion, i was hoping to hear what actual usages are in people's circles
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Usages is a weird way to put it. It’s not a treatment, or a medicine, actually, it’s life ending poison.

That said, I know that the “usages” of it are high in BC. Second only to Quebec if I recall correctly.
 
I have no personal experience as of yet. Probably a function of age and general lack of potentially terminal illnesses in my immediate circle. There's some cancer in my family but nothing at that level, just ones that are easily managed so far like skin and early stage prostate.
 
JayneWonders said:
Anyone in your social circles Kimmio
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Yeah. There have been people I knew online who had MAiD because they couldn’t afford to live with disability. There are people in my neighbourhood who want to give up because there are too many barriers to living well. There are friends’ aging parents with cancer who’ve chosen it. But I’m most worried about track 2 and the really bad (but deliberate) geopolitical timing.
 
Sadly, I do have personal stories of people in my circle. I'm glad they had the choice. It MUST be a choice and not done as a replacement for good palliative care. One friend died in September. Her disease had gone sideways quickly. She set a date for MAID and they didn't expect her to last until that date, which was only a couple days down the road. I'm glad she was able to take some control of her exit.

Another friend was adamant she was using MAID. She went though all the assessments, had supports and set a date. She moved the date to a week later twice. Ultimately, she went to hospice and I believe died naturally. She as getting a lot of opiates and probably essentially died in her sleep. Both she and the first friend had their families with them.

I've had friends who felt pressured to sign up for MAID. That's not cool, even with stage 4 cancer that seems dire. People can be told about MAID in a way that dies not pressure.

At this point, I see no reason to choose MAID. Who knows how that might change. I'm glad though it's an option for some.

MAID for people with mental illness and disabilities is wrong in most if not all cases.

We as a society have become afraid of "suffering". Suffering is part of life. We need to find better ways to support people.
 
My parents ate not dying, at the moment. My dad is in constant agony and my mom has been managing lymphoma for decades. I know that if it comes to it, they will choose MAiD. If that is made unavailable to them, they will take matters into their own hands. Of that I have no doubt. So making it unavailable will just make everything worse in their case. I'm sure they would otherwise qualify under most even remotely reasonable criteria.
 
I know of one individual who chose MAID but I am not privy to all the details. He was a relative of a relative.
 
chansen said:
My parents ate not dying, at the moment. My dad is in constant agony and my mom has been managing lymphoma for decades. I know that if it comes to it, they will choose MAiD. If that is made unavailable to them, they will take matters into their own hands. Of that I have no doubt. So making it unavailable will just make everything worse in their case. I'm sure they would otherwise qualify under most even remotely reasonable criteria.
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I don’t think the focus is on stopping Track 1 and making it unavailable to dying people. There is a Supreme Court challenge that has been started by a consortium of disability groups, over track 2.

That said, the more normalized even track 2 is, the less reason govt has to improve care for people who want to live as long as they can. Palliative care will be seen as excess spending. And that’s really wrong.
 
I know of no one in my immediate circles.
I do know some who committed suicide and doctors that prescribed morphine to stop pain, which effectively hastened an inevitable death.
So not quite the same just different.
 
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