The Somatechnologies of Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying Law: LGBTQ Discourses on Suicide and the Injunction to Live

Somatechnics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Baril
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Mental Disability ◽  
Medical Assistance ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Canadian Government ◽  
Physically Disabled ◽  
Medical Assistance In Dying ◽  
Oppressed Group ◽  
Physically Disabled People

In June 2016, the Canadian government passed Bill C-14 on medical assistance in dying, allowing for medically assisted suicide when ‘death has become reasonably foreseeable.’ While available for ill or physically disabled people at the end-of-life, medically assisted suicide is denied in cases where people are perceived to have a mental disability and whose suffering is strictly emotional/psychological, such as suicidal people. I argue that this distinction results in constructing two classes of suicidal subjects by considering physically disabled or ill people as legitimate subjects who should receive assistance in dying and suicidal people as illegitimate subjects who must be kept alive through what I call the ‘injunction to live’ and ‘somatechnologies of life’. Analysing discourses on suicide targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer (LGBTQ) people in LGBTQ scholarship, I argue that, based on the silencing of suicidal subjects through the injunction to live, suicidal people constitute an oppressed group whose claims remain unintelligible within society, law, medical/psychiatric systems and LGBTQ scholarship. This article calls for listening to suicidal people's voices and developing an accountable response to their suffering and claims.

Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada: Implications and Considerations for Music Therapists Around the Globe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Clements-Cortes ◽  
Joyce Yip
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Voluntary Euthanasia ◽  
Healthcare Team ◽  
Medical Assistance ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Medical Assistance In Dying ◽  
Medical And Healthcare

Abstract Physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia are two procedures of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) that are readily requested by patients internationally. In April 2016, the legalization of these procedures occurred in Canada after the pursuit of many jurisdictional cases. Known as Bill C-14, this legislation aims to balance patient autonomy at end-of-life with revised standardizations for medical and healthcare professionals. Music therapists may be included in the medical and healthcare team that can be recommended by patients considering MAiD. At present, there are no written guidelines that empirically outline the role of music therapists in this area. This paper explores the global history of MAiD as well as MAiD in the Canadian healthcare system and its implications. Information on the legislation Bill C-14 will be explained, along with a discussion on the current practices of music therapy at end-of-life and the potential scope of a music therapist during the MAiD procedure. Ethical issues and future research are also presented as recommendations to healthcare and music therapy professionals.

To die, to sleep, perchance to dream? A response to DeMichelis, Shaul and Rapoport

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (12) ◽  
pp. 832-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel L Gamble ◽  
Nathan K Gamble ◽  
Michal Pruski
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Medical Ethics ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Palliative Sedation ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Medical Assistance ◽  
End Of Life Decisions ◽  
Medical Assistance In Dying ◽  
Life Decisions

In developing their policy on paediatric medical assistance in dying (MAID), DeMichelis, Shaul and Rapoport decide to treat euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide as ethically and practically equivalent to other end-of-life interventions, particularly palliative sedation and withdrawal of care (WOC). We highlight several flaws in the authors’ reasoning. Their argument depends on too cursory a dismissal of intention, which remains fundamental to medical ethics and law. Furthermore, they have not fairly presented the ethical analyses justifying other end-of-life decisions, analyses and decisions that were generally accepted long before MAID was legal or considered ethical. Forgetting or misunderstanding the analyses would naturally lead one to think MAID and other end-of-life decisions are morally equivalent. Yet as we recall these well-developed analyses, it becomes clear that approving of some forms of sedation and WOC does not commit one to MAID. Paediatric patients and their families can rationally and coherently reject MAID while choosing palliative care and WOC. Finally, the authors do not substantiate their claim that MAID is like palliative care in that it alleviates suffering. It is thus unreasonable to use this supposition as a warrant for their proposed policy.

scholarly journals Relationship between Sleep Duration Trajectories and Self-Rated Depressive Symptoms in South Koreans with Physical Disabilities

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 361
Author(s):  
Su Jeong Yi ◽  
Yoo Mi Jeong ◽  
Jae-Hyun Kim
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Sleep Duration ◽  
Bayes Factor ◽  
Physical Disabilities ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Physically Disabled ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Physically Disabled People ◽  
The Relationship

Physically disabled persons can have sleep problems, which affects their mental health more than those in non-disabled people. However, there are few studies on the relationship between sleep duration and mental health targeting physically disabled people in South Korea, and existing studies on the disabled have mostly used data collected from convenience rather than nationally representative samples, limiting the generalization of the results. This study used data from the second wave of the Panel Survey of Employment for the Disabled (PSED, 2016–2018, 1st–3rd year). Participants included 1851 physically disabled individuals. The Chi-square test and generalized estimating equation (GEE) were used and the Akaike information criterion (AIC) value and the AIC log Bayes factor approximation were used to select sleep trajectories. This is the first study to elucidate multiple sleep trajectories in physically disabled people in Korea, and the relationship between sleep duration trajectories and self-rated depressive symptoms. People with physical disabilities who sleep more than 9 h have the highest risk of depression and need more intensive management as a priority intervention.

19. Medical Assistance in Dying

2019 ◽  
pp. 615-665
Author(s):  
G. T. Laurie ◽  
S. H. E. Harmon ◽  
E. S. Dove
Keyword(s):  
Medical Treatment ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Double Effect ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Medical Assistance ◽  
Philosophical Concept ◽  
Medical Assistance In Dying ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter discusses ethical and legal aspects of euthanasia and assisted dying. It first examines the non-voluntary termination of life, covering the relationship between medical treatment and assistance in dying as a matter of failure to treat, and the philosophical concept of ‘double effect’. The chapter then discusses activity and passivity in assisted dying; dying as an expression of patient autonomy; suicide and assisted suicide; physician-assisted suicide; and assisted dying in practice.

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