Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada: Key Multidisciplinary Perspectives

This book, written both for a Canadian and an international readership, provides a multidisciplinary review of the framework and performance of the Canadian Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program. In the first five years (2015-2021) of operation, this program delivered voluntary euthanasia and assistance in suicide to over 30,000 Canadian residents, presently representing a 30% annual growth. Looking back on these first five years, the 30 Canadian scholars and clinicians contributing to this volume raise important issues and attempt to answer key questions that have arisen in regards to its operation and its stated objectives. This volume strikes the most appropriate balance between the autonomy of persons who seek medical assistance, versus the interests and protection of vulnerable persons. Finally, the book makes suggestions on how the program can presently be improved. It identifies gaps in knowledge about MAID’s operational program and its impact on individuals, families and society in order to stimulate the necessary research that is essential to the evolution of a healthy and well-balanced program. As a first, comprehensive examination of medically assisted deaths in Canada, this publication will be of great value to lay, professional, academic, political audiences both domestically and internationally, especially in jurisdictions that are examining their options of permitting assisted deaths.

Jaro Kotalik, MD (Charles University, Prague), DMRT (University of Toronto), M.A. (Medical Ethics and Law, Kings College, London, UK), FRCPC, is Professor, Northern Ontario School of Medicine University; Adjunct Professor, Department of Philosophy, Lakehead University; Associate Member of the World Medical Association. He served as a radiation oncologist, CEO of Thunder Bay Regional Cancer Centre, Vice President of Cancer Care Ontario and Clinical Professor of McMaster University. He founded the Centre for Health Care Ethics at Lakehead University, was its director for 12 years and is now Chair of its Executive Committee. He was appointed to the National Council for Ethics in Human Research and to several committees of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. He served as a bioethics consultant to many organizations, including  Health Canada and Swiss National Bioethics Committee. 

David Shannon is a member of the Law Society Ontario practicing health law in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He received a Masters of Law degree at the London School of Economics, and has continued in his law practice and non-government organization leadership since then. His Dave Shannon Cross-Canada Tour in 1997 gained national media attention as he became the first quadriplegic to trek across Canada in a motorized wheelchair, and in 2009 he set another first by going to the North Pole celebrating the message that seemingly insurmountable barriers can be overcome.

Shannon has won numerous prestigious awards and honours, such as the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada for his work advancing the rights of disabled persons and other minority groups in Canada and abroad.  His academic and professional body of work has been expansive within the realm of human rights and health law. David has also been a sessional lecturer at Lakehead University and Negahnewin College at both the undergraduate and graduate level as well keynote speaker at numerous conferences across North America.