Grant: Project Grant

Medical Assistance in Dying or MAID is legal for persons living with a serious illness, disease or disability who are declining but not imminently dying. In March 2024, this will include persons with a serious mental disorder as their sole underlying medical condition. This is called Track 2 MAID. We know that these are challenging cases. It can be difficult for healthcare providers to balance a persons' choice about their wish to die with the law when making a decision about whether an applicant is eligible for MAID. Healthcare providers find this emotionally difficult work. Many of our current systems are not yet structured in a way that supports this labour-intensive work. Importantly, we don't know a lot about what it is like for applicants and family to live through the process of contemplating, applying for, and receiving MAID under Track 2. In this project we aim to describe the experiences with Track 2 MAID of persons, family, and healthcare providers over a three year period. We will interview 30 applicants and 30 family members every two months. We will interview 30 healthcare providers every year for 3 years. We will interview key informants who are caring for persons with special circumstances (e.g., marginally housed) or who are involved in innovations to better understand what is good care for persons and family applying for, and/or receiving, MAID under Track 2. We want this knowledge to be shared throughout the project so every year we will hold a workshop for persons involved in making decisions about MAID Track 2 and give a presentation to the public about what we are learning. MAID for persons who are not imminently dying has been controversial. Behind the controversy there are real persons applying to end their lives and healthcare providers who have the difficult job of determining whether they are eligible to do so. Findings from this study will contribute to robust policies and high quality care for all those involved.