International Comparison of Underlying Disease Among Recipients of Medical Assistance in Dying

It was a pleasure to engage with a who's who of the world's medical aid in dying experts (from NL, BE, AU, CA) on this new JAMA Internal Medicine article "International Comparison of Underlying Disease Among Recipients of Medical Assistance in Dying." 

While absolute MAID rates and eligibility criteria vary by jurisdiction, the relative proportion of MAID rates by disease was remarkably similar across jurisdictions. 

Eligibility criteria (e.g., prognosis) and type of MAID (self-administered MAID or physician-assisted suicide [PAS] vs clinician-administered MAID or euthanasia) vary by jurisdiction, with MAID use ranging from 0.1% to 5.1% of all deaths. But regardless of jurisdiction, cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) consistently account for up to 80% of MAID cases despite accounting for fewer than 30% of all deaths.

James Downar