It has now been 10 years since Medical Assistance in Dying (M.A.I.D.) has been legalized in Canada. And according to some local experts, the conversation in its ethics has changed from if it should remain legalized to what the appropriate thresholds are for someone considering it as an option.
A discussion at the University of Lethbridge summed up objective lessons learned from the past decade. Included in Friday’s talk was a local practitioner who is one of very few who carries out M.A.I.D. procedures in southern Alberta.
Dr. Dionne Walsh with Alberta Health Services’ Palliative Care Team says caution is necessary to differentiate the proper criteria for eligible patients, especially after the federal government recently excluded people indefinitely who sorely suffer from mental illnesses.