End-of-life decisions are difficult and deeply personal.
Medical assistance in dying (MAID) is provided only to legally eligible people in Canada.
Folks with dementia can get it, but only if they are of sound mind when they apply, are accepted and undergo the procedure, meaning many people don't qualify.
Some, including Dying With Dignity Canada, are advocating that those with neurocognitive disorders who won't get better and whose symptoms are intolerable to be able to agree to it before they are not lucid.
Others say that allowing it for these conditions opens the door for abuse of the elderly. disabled and vulnerable; still others disagree with it for religious and ethical reasons.
But what do our readers think?
The Squamish Chief polled 208 readers and asked the question: Should dementia patients be able to make advance requests for medical assistance in dying?
The majority, about 64%, said yes.
The poll ran from 12/19/2024 to 12/28/2024.
Of the 208 votes, we can determine that 79 are from within the community. It should be noted that poll respondents don't have to state where they live. Only those who chose to disclose location are counted in the local tally.
The full results are as follows:
Results are based on an online study of adult Squamish Chief readers that are located in Squamish. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 6.76%, 19 times out of 20.
The Squamish Chief uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.
