In Canada, medical assistance in dying or MAiD eligibility is set to change in March 2024, removing the exclusion for those suffering with severe mental illness. Since 2016, terminal patients in Canada who were near the end of life have had the constitutional right to end their life with the assistance of a physician. That changed in 2021 when Canada removed the stipulation that the patient must be terminal. In the same year, Canada estimated over 10,000 patients ended their life via MAID. The update to the law has caused a serious debate over the ethics of this procedure.

At the heart of the matter is a discussion over whether current safeguards are enough. In this unique look at the intersection of ethics and medicine, Alok sat down with Dr Stephanie Green (MD), President of the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers (CAMAP) and Kerry Bowman (PhD), a Bioethicist from the University of Toronto to better understand how the update to the provision impacts Canadian patients looking to access MAID. The Vitals team will explain the detailed realities of how medically assisted death works today and examine what safeguards are in place to protect the patients.

Take the PBS Digital Studios Audience Survey: https://to.pbs.org/pbssurvey2023c

Please SUBSCRIBE! ►► https://bit.ly/pbsvitals

Let’s Connect:
IG:   / pbsvitals  
Twitter:   / pbsvitals  
Facebook:   / pbsvitals  

Find our experts and hosts:

::Dr. Alok Patel, MD ::
Website: http://alokpatelmd.com/
Twitter: @AlokPatelMD
IG: @alokpatelmd

::Dr. Stefanie Green, MD ::
Website: https://www.stefaniegreen.com/
Twitter: :@docsgreen

:: Kerry Bowman, PhD::
Website: https://media.utoronto.ca/bluebook/ke...


00:00 Intro: MAID and mental illness inclusion
01:56 What is medically assistance in dying
02:57 Euthanasia vs physician assisted suicide
03:44 Eligibility
04:34 Eligibility without a terminal diagnosis
05:22 Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s lasting impression on MAID today
06:56 Canadian support for MAID
07:52 What’s the tension about changing the safeguards
12:55 Alok’s final thoughts
13:24: PBS Audience Survey