Physicians' moral distinctions between medical assistance in dying (MAiD) and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment in Canada: a qualitative descriptive study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) was legalized in Canada following the Carter v. Canada ruling of 2015. In spite of legalization, the ethics of MAiD remain contentious. The bioethical literature has attempted to differentiate MAiD from withdrawing life-sustaining treatment (WLT) in an effort to examine the nature of the moral difference between the two. However, this research has often neglected the firsthand experiences of the clinicians involved in these procedures. By asking physicians if they perceive the major bioethical accounts as clinically useful, we seek to distinguish between aspects of the contemporary bioethical landscape which are useful at the bedside and those which are divorced from the realities faced by clinicians.

Methods

We applied a qualita

SUBMITTER: Matthew M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11786344 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature