Editor:
Re: What does MAiD sound like, feel like? (Optimist, letters, March 18).
I want to commend Mr. Jones on asking this question - so as to better understand the process of MAiD, and not make assumptions, as well as to open the dialogue.
To answer your questions, yes, yes, yes, and yes. MAiD can, and is, administered in facilities along with palliative care all the time. MAiD is a very peaceful, quiet and serene transition - to be quite honest, at times more so than the natural dying process. You would have absolutely no idea that the individual in a room next to you was receiving MAiD versus having a ‘natural’ death.
In almost any area of specialty there are multiple medical modalities/treatment choices. Palliative care is no exception. There are often many options along the way - what types or how much treatment. Die at home, versus die in a health care facility. Music therapy, spiritual practices, and so on. MAiD is merely another option along the way.
As a final note however, I would like to point out - all of this is a moot point. It is the legal right of any individual who meets the qualifications for MAiD to receive it. And it is a legal directive that this may happen in palliative care facilities - so really, it is no more our business what type of treatment the patient in the next room receives, than it would be on a surgical floor in a hospital.
Heather Anderson
