Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in Canada: practical aspects for healthcare teams.

In this paper we document some of the practical aspects of implementing medical assistance in dying (MAiD) since it became legal in Canada in 2016. The percentage of annual deaths in Canada due to MAiD varies widely, ranging from less than 0.5% in some areas to over 5% in others. By the end of 2019, approximately 13,000 people had an assisted death in Canada (1.6% of all deaths). The average age is 73 years and the majority have cancer (64%), followed by end-stage organ failure (17%), and neurological disease (11%). The safeguards in Canadian law include having two witnesses sign the patient request form, having two independent clinicians agree that the patient is eligible, and requiring a 10-day waiting period after the request is made. Although the criminal law is federal and applies throughout the nation, health services managed provincially, and there are many different models of care being used. Some provinces have standardized prescriptions and procedures for assisted dying with centralized care coordinators supporting both patients and providers. Other provinces expect individual providers to manage all aspects of assisted dying. The procedure and medications are provided free of charge to patients, but it took years before many providers were remunerated for their services. Access for patients has been a problem because there are too few providers of care (especially in rural areas), and many people have difficulty getting accurate information about the process. Many faith-based health care facilities continue to refuse to allow assisted dying within their facilities, so patients requesting MAiD need to be transferred to other locations in their last hours of life. Solutions to these problems have included the development of more training and support for providers and the creation of coordinating centres that provide information and support for patients throughout the process. Telemedicine is used for assessment of eligibility when required, especially during the COVID pandemic. There are similarities in problems of access to all end of life care options, including palliative care and residential hospices. The relationships between providers of assisted dying and specialists in palliative care vary, and examples exist throughout the spectrum from collegial to hostile. This is slowly improving, as individual clinicians gain more experience with patients choosing assisted dying. Public culture is changing as there are more conversations occurring about death and dying.

An entrustable professional activity descriptor for medical aid in dying: a mixed-methods study.

BACKGROUND: In jurisdictions where medical aid in dying (MAiD) is legal, there is an obligation to ensure the competence of those who assess eligibility and provide MAiD to patients. Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are one framework for incorporating competency-based training and assessment into the workplace, so we convened a group of experienced MAiD providers to develop an EPA descriptor for MAiD. METHODS: We performed a mixed-methods sequential qualitative (focus group via 2 teleconferences) and quantitative (survey) study to generate and refine a consensus descriptor using open coding followed by a modified Delphi approach. Participants were experienced MAiD assessors and providers identified purposively from a national community of practice in Canada. RESULTS: Of the 22 MAiD assessors and providers invited to participate in the focus group, 13 (59%) agreed. The focus group divided MAiD into 3 components: assessment, preparation and provision of MAiD. Participants identified key knowledge, skills and attitudes for each component. They also suggested teaching approaches, potential sources of information to evaluate progress and a potential basis for evaluating progress and entrustment. Key points from this descriptor were sent via survey to 88 assessors and providers, of whom 64 (73%) responded. Respondents agreed on all key points except for the conditions of entrustment; these were modified based on feedback and sent back to the respondents for a second Delphi round, where agreement was achieved. INTERPRETATION: We achieved a high degree of agreement on a competency-based descriptor of MAiD in the form of an EPA. This can be used to inform practice standards, curriculum development and/or assessment of competence among learners and practising providers alike.

Reasons for requesting medical assistance in dying.

OBJECTIVE: To review the charts of people who requested medical assistance in dying (MAID) to examine their reasons for the request. DESIGN: Retrospective chart survey. SETTING: British Columbia. PARTICIPANTS: Patients who requested an assisted death and were assessed by 1 of 6 physicians in British Columbia during 2016. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients' diagnoses and reasons for requesting MAID. RESULTS: Data were collected from 250 assessments for MAID: 112 of the patients had assisted deaths, 11 had natural deaths, 35 were assessed as not eligible for MAID, and most of the rest were not ready. For people who had assisted deaths, disease-related symptoms were given as the first or second most important reason for requesting assisted death by 67 people (59.8%), while 59 (52.7%) gave loss of autonomy, 55 (49.1%) gave loss of ability to enjoy activities, and 27 (24.1%) gave fear of future suffering. People who were assessed as eligible but who had not received assisted deaths were more likely to list fear of future suffering (33.7% vs 7.1%) and less likely to list disease-related symptoms (17.4% vs 40.2%) than those who received MAID were. There was a difference in reasons for MAID given by people with different diagnoses; disease-related symptoms were given as the most important reason by 39.0% of patients with malignancies, 6.8% of patients with neurological diseases, and 28.9% of patients with end-organ failure. Loss of autonomy was given as the most important reason by 16.0% of patients with malignancies, 36.4% of patients with neurological diseases, and 23.7% of patients with end-organ failure. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the reasons patients give for requesting an assisted death are similar to those reported in other jurisdictions with similar laws, but in different proportions. Loss of autonomy and loss of ability to enjoy activities were less common reasons among patients in this study compared with other jurisdictions. This might be related to the method of data collection, as in this study, the patients' reasons were recorded by physicians.