People 'generally' support advance MAID requests before decision

TORONTO — A new Health Canada report says people surveyed about medical assistance in dying “generally” support allowing patients who will lose their decision-making capacity to give advance consent.

Right now, MAID is legal for people who have a serious and incurable medical condition and are experiencing intolerable suffering, but they must be able to give consent immediately before they die.

There have been calls to allow people with dementia to give advance consent to receive a medically assisted death when they meet their own definition of intolerable suffering, such as not being able to feed themselves or recognize loved ones.

The federal government conducted surveys and meetings across the country to find out what the public — including health-care workers, people with disabiliti