Description
Identify the ethical issue(s) within your topic.
Review the theories and principles and choose a theory and principle(s) to apply. topic is MAID and access for persons with mental illness:
As of March 17, 2021, persons who wish to receive MAID must satisfy the following eligibility criteria:
• be 18 years of age or older and have decision-making capacity
• be eligible for publicly funded health care services
• make a voluntary request that is not the result of external pressure
• give informed consent to receive MAID, meaning that the person has consented to receiving MAID after they have received all information needed to make this decision
• have a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability (excluding a mental illness until March 17, 2023)
• be in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability
• have enduring and intolerable physical or psychological suffering that cannot be alleviated under conditions the person considers acceptable
Eligibility for persons suffering from mental illness
Canadians whose only medical condition is a mental illness, and who otherwise meet all eligibility criteria, will not be eligible for MAID until March 17, 2023. This includes conditions that are primarily within the domain of psychiatry, such as depression and personality disorders. It does not include neurocognitive and neurodevelopmental disorders, or other conditions that may affect cognitive abilities.
This temporary exclusion will provide the Government of Canada with more time to study how MAID on the basis of a mental illness can safely be provided and to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect those persons. To support this work, the law requires the Ministers of Justice and Health to initiate an expert review, which will be tasked with considering protocols, guidance and safeguards for MAID for persons suffering from mental illness, and to make recommendations within the next year (by March 17, 2022).
Do you agree with the decision to give access to MAID to persons with a mental illness under strict conditions? Use an ethical theory to support your decision.
Note: this is not an essay about whether MAID is ethical. It is an essay about who should have access to MAID.
