Leila Bell, an 85 year old Canadian, suffered from early stage Alzheimer's disease. She died in August 2019 using the Canadian Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) legislation. However, in an in depth interview shortly before her death, she explains that she is angry that she had to end her life as soon as she did, [...]
The Canadian government has proposed changing the law on assisted dying to extend access for those who are not terminally ill. Unlike some states in the USA and Australia, under Canada's current 2016 law, the right to request an assisted death is not restricted to those with a life expectancy of 6 months or less. [...]
MDMD commented recently on how the current Canadian Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) legislation was now starting to be used in some early stage dementia cases. A recent 30-minute radio programme broadcast by CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) discusses another case in depth. The programme and a detailed summary are available on their website. This is [...]
MDMD has been following the story of Marieke Vervoort, the medal-winning paralympic athlete, since she announced her intention to end her life when she felt the time was right for her. Many papers, including The Guardian and The Mail have reported her death by euthanasia on 22nd October 2019. Marieke had endured unbearable pain as [...]
Canadians have had legal access to medical aid in dying (MAID), the preferred term there, since June 2016. The Canadian law does not limit MAID to those who are expected to die within six months, as is the case in those USA and Australian states that permit assisted dying, (the 'Oregon model'). Instead their law [...]
Latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the number of deaths attributed to Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia continues to rise. 1 in 8 of all deaths in England and Wales were caused by dementia in 2018. For women over 80 the figure rises to 1 in 4. A defining [...]
Dignity in Dying have published a hard-hitting report on how unpleasant the realities of dying in the UK today can be for some people. The report 'The Inescapable Truth. How seventeen people a day will suffer as they die' is available in full as a 92 page PDF file here. It is also available in [...]
Two recent news stories concerning suicide inquests demonstrate again how the current assisted suicide law prevents people who are incurably suffering having the peaceful death they would choose. Reports in the Mirror and the Guardian cover the inquest into the death of Ralph Snell, 94, who took a mix of morphine and sleeping pills to [...]
To mark the tenth anniversary of Debbie Purdy's landmark assisted dying case, which resulted in the current Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) guidelines on the Assisted Suicide law, My Death, My Decision has published an open letter to the incoming Secretary of State for Justice, Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP, calling for a review [...]
The common understanding of the term "terminal illness" is 'a disease or condition which can’t be cured and is likely to lead to someone’s death.' This can apply to advanced cancer, dementia (including Alzheimer's), motor neurone disease (MND/ALS), advanced heart disease and many other illnesses. However, the term is used in a more restrictive sense [...]