Medical aid in dying to avoid late-stage dementia.
J Am Geriatr Soc
; 72(4): 1216-1222, 2024 Apr.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38315000
ABSTRACT
Many patients with dementia want the option of using medical aid in dying (MAID) to end their lives before losing decision-making capacity and other abilities that impact their desired quality of life. But, for over two decades, it has been widely understood that these patients cannot (solely because of their dementia diagnosis) satisfy three statutory eligibility requirements in all U.S. MAID laws (1) decisional capacity, (2) the ability to self-administer the life-ending medications, and (3) a terminal condition with 6 months or less to live. Now, because of recent statutory amendments together with the use of voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) to quickly advance to a terminal condition, this dementia exclusion from MAID might no longer apply. If combining VSED and MAID is now a possibility for patients with dementia, then clinicians need more guidance on whether and when to support patients seeking to take this path. In this article, we begin to provide this guidance. First, we describe the recent case of an Oregon patient with early-stage Alzheimer's dementia who successfully used VSED to qualify for and use MAID. Second, we discuss prior barriers to using VSED as a bridge to MAID for people with dementia. Third, we describe recent legal changes that might make this path now possible.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Suicídio Assistido
/
Doença de Alzheimer
Tipo de estudo:
Guideline
/
Prognostic_studies
Aspecto:
Patient_preference
Limite:
Humans
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Am Geriatr Soc
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos