The Caregiver Crisis in Canada Have you attended a social event lately with people aged 40 to 60? Often described as the ‘sandwich generation,’ they try to care for older family or friends while working full-time, coping with busy family lives, and raising children. No doubt the conversation will turn…
There appears to be a lack of consensus in the mental health field whether persons with a mental disorder-sole underlying medical condition can be adequately evaluated for capacity to consent to MAiD.
Today’s blog is co-written by Jennifer Campbell and Sandra Arsenault, Senior Law Clerks in the Private Client Services Group at Fasken. At the beginning of November, we were fortunate enough to attend the Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario (ILCO) annual conference in Niagara-on-the-Lake. This conference brings together law clerks…
I suggest “an appreciation of the impact MAiD will have on family members and friends” be included in fulfilling the proposed amendment of the appreciation test for consenting to MAiD. The proposed amendment would not mandate being bound by others’ opinions, but that that lack of ability to appreciate the views of one’s significant others would demonstrate a lack of ability to apply the relevant information to one’s circumstances.
In Canada, the law no longer restricts medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to people whose death is reasonably foreseeable: as of March 17, 2023, people with a mental disorder as a sole underlying medical condition (MD-SUMC) will be eligible for MAiD.
A Dead Give-Away Did you know that deathbed wills are the original will? In medieval Europe, for all but those in high society, will-making was synonymous with efforts right before death. Luckily, this type of estate planning is no longer the status quo. However, deathbed wills have persisted as a…
I have found it uncommon for a family member or beneficiary to exert undue influence to pressure a patient to pursue MAiD. What worries me is the vulnerability of patients to undue influence from physicians who may embrace therapeutic nihilism and bias patients unduly towards MAiD. I suggest that, for capacity to consent to MAiD, the test of “ability to appreciate” should be expanded to require an appreciation of the views and wishes of supportive family members and friends.
A clinical dilemma: a patient was diagnosed with dementia in the mild-to-moderate stage requested to be discharged home from hospital to live alone despite the opinion of the attorney for personal care and property that the patient is unsafe to do so. The clinical opinion was also that the patient…
The Oxford Dictionary defines a fiduciary as a person in a position of trust, especially when it involves controlling money or property belonging to others. The law places particular emphasis on the trust relationship between a trustee and a third-party beneficiary. Among other duties, a fiduciary is required to: (1)…
Changes to MAiD laws will allow some patients whose deaths are foreseeable to provide advance directives regarding medical assistance in dying.
