Should dementia patients be able to make advance requests for medical assistance in dying?
CBC
As the number of dementia patients in Canada continues to climb, so do calls to allow advance requests for medical assistance in dying (MAID).
Similar to the debate over expanding MAID to those suffering solely from mental illness, it's another sign that the Canadian government is far from finished wading through the complexities of the end-of-life procedure.
There's currently a petition before the House of Commons requesting a Criminal Code amendment to allow people facing a capacity-diminishing diagnosis to request MAID in advance. It was authorized by Yukon MP Brendan Hanley and today has more than 13,000 signatures.
"The advance request lets you say, 'I know I'm going to get there eventually, but I'm not there yet. But when I get there, that's what I want to happen,'" said Dying with Dignity Canada CEO Helen Long.
"I have seen many people in long-term [care] homes who are just waiting to die. It's God's parking lot," said Jennifer Peyton, 70, of Woodstock, Ont., who, despite being in good health is concerned about her options down the road.
"I am terrified that I am going to end up like that," said Peyton. "I'm healthy right now, but you don't know when it's going to hit."
According to an Ipsos poll published last July, support for advance requests for MAID for individuals diagnosed with a grievous and irremediable condition remains high.
The Alzheimer Society of Canada predicts that by 2030 the country could see a 51 per cent increase over 2020 in the number of new dementia cases per year. An estimated 6.3 million people in Canada will develop, live with and/or ultimately die with dementia between 2020 and 2050.
"Canada is an aging population … and they're always singing the blues about health-care costs," said Peyton. "I know it sounds callous, but I think there are a lot of people ... in beds [who] do not wish to be in those beds."
Canada formally legalized MAID through legislation in 2016. Currently, someone can request MAID if their death is "reasonably foreseeable" under what's known as Track 1, or if they suffer from a "grievous and irremediable condition," Track 2.
So far MAID is not available in Canada through advance requests.
However, in February 2023, the parliamentary Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying produced a report that recommended "the Government of Canada amend the Criminal Code to allow for advance requests following a diagnosis of a serious and incurable medical condition, disease, or disorder leading to incapacity."
"I'm a Christian," said Peyton. "It does not bother me one bit to end my life under those circumstances. To me it is not murder, it is a release."
But last June, then minsters of health and justice Jean-Yves Duclos and David Lametti responded to the recommendation to expand MAID to include advanced requests by saying the issue needed further consultation and study before the government could consider adopting it.
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