Pro

MAID is a matter of bodily autonomy, a right everyone should have.

Autonomy is “the state or condition of self-governance, or leading one’s life according to reasons, values, or desires that are authentically one’s own.” Bodily autonomy, in turn, is control over one’s physical being. [19]

MAID laws are written “to offer agency and autonomy at the end of life in lieu of suffering, indignity, and shame.” [20]

We should protect the “personal autonomy people should have to decide that they don’t want to continue living to the end of a condition from which they will die after many months, weeks, or days of suffering, both physically and existentially–that is, when there is no longer purpose in their lives,” according to lawyer Lamar W. Hawkins. [21]

“Our own [US] Supreme Court, nearly 30 years ago, found that we all have the right to decide what medical care we are willing to accept,” adds Hawkins. “We should also have a right to decide what suffering we are willing to endure and receive medical assistance necessary to avoid the suffering we want to avoid. Our essential right to take our own lives when faced with unwanted suffering is undeniable–no state prohibits it. What we don’t yet have everywhere is the right to receive assistance in doing so, an omission that discriminates against the too feeble, the too ill, and the too disabled, who nevertheless know their own minds and deserve the assistance necessary to exercise that essential right.” [21]

For many terminally ill patients who are interested in MAID and go through the process to qualify and obtain a prescription, just having the lethal medication on hand relieves anxieties and fears about not only their potentially excruciating deaths but the lives and good moments they have left. [22]

Many find support from family, friends, and medical professionals to continue their lives for a while longer. In fact, many do not take the prescription medication and instead die from the terminal illness itself, but they die more peacefully having had the option of ending their lives and suffering on their own terms. [22]

Read More