Medical Aid in Dying in the USA - More Access for Patients with Dementia

It is difficult for patients with dementia as their sole underlying medical condition to qualify for medical aid in dying (MAID) in the United States. It is almost impossible for the patient to have both decision-making capacity and a less than six-month prognosis.

But an increasing number of patients with dementia SUMC are getting MAID in the United States. Some start VSED which gives them a <6-month prognosis. Others severely restrict their calories, resulting in a <18 BMI and Protein Calorie Malnutrition. In other words, dementia alone was not terminal. But the way that these patients managed their dementia made it terminal.

Furthermore, we are now seeing more efforts to enact MAID legislation that would permit these patients to qualify for MAID directly rather than through the circuitous route of dehydration or malnutrition. Two examples are this bill in California and this bill in Iowa.

Luke McLaughlin