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- Page navigation anchor for RE: MAID and Mental IllnessRE: MAID and Mental Illness
Nicholas E. Diamant
34 Richard St
Kingston, Ontario
Canada, K7M 2J2June 8, 2020
MAID and Mental Illness
Editor: CMAJ
In articles discussing whether assisted dying should be allowed where mental illness is the sole underlying medical condition, no or rare mention is made of dementia conditions. The MAID Policy article in the CMAJ is similar except for a brief mention of mental illness near the end, with “severe dementia” in brackets.
My wife developed Alzheimer’s dementia about 10 years ago, her sole underlying condition. She was a nurse with a diploma in Gerontology from the University of Toronto. She taught personal care workers of various types in chronic care facilities including those with dementia patients. I cared for her at home until she had to be admitted to long term care. She was fully aware of her condition and the course it would take. As a result, she often at home sat in tears, saying she did not want to live with this and wanted to die using MAID. However, we knew and discussed at the time that Assisted Medical Death was impossible at these times, or as her condition deteriorated unless the law changed.
Such patients continually deteriorate to the point of mental incompetence and enter a state that has no quality of life. They should be allowed to end it with a medically assisted death if they so wish. They should also be permitted to make a legal request for this before they become mentally in...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.References
- . RE: MAID and Mental Illness. 2020;:-.
- Page navigation anchor for Beware the Dutch experieanceBeware the Dutch experieance
Laupacis is right to advise caution about Canada's proposal to expand MAiD criteria but before assuming that all is well from recent Canadian data he should have looked at the experience in the Netherlands.
The Dutch Euthanasia Expertise Centre recently published detailed data about their experience in psychiatric patients. In contrast with the MAiD data, patients were more likely to be female, single, with a lower educational background than the general population and with the commonest diagnosis being 'depressive mood disorder'. This is in stark contrast to the early MAiD data and serves as an early warning to the likely change in Canadian MAiD statistics if criteria are expanded to include mental illness.
Reference:
Psychiatrische patiënten bij Expertisecentrum: Euthanasiehttps://expertisecentrumeuthanasie.nl/app/uploads/2020/02/Onderzoeksrapp...Competing Interests: None declared.