Medical Aid in Dying

Overview/FAQs

Policy Initiative: Medical Aid in Dying

Is medical aid in dying safe?

With more than 20 years of evidence from Oregon alone and another 77 years of combined evidence in the other authorized jurisdictions in the U.S., the laws that authorize this compassionate option have proven not only to protect patients, but to improve care across the end-of-life spectrum.

The fundamental core safeguards embedded in medical aid-in-dying laws ensure that all terminally ill individuals pursuing the option are protected from coercion and abuse.   

Please scroll down for more detail.

Medical aid in dying (MAiD) is a widely supported end-of-life option that provides dying people with peace of mind and comfort during a difficult time.

For patients, it is the heart of person-directed care, for it allows them to live according to their own values and priorities as death approaches.

The evidence of over 25 years in the U.S. shows that medical aid in dying affords terminally ill people a measure of control and compassion, improves end-of-life care even for those who don’t choose the option, and costs states almost nothing to implement..

What is medical aid in dying?

A trusted and time-tested medical practice that allows a terminally ill, mentally capable adult with a prognosis of six months or less to live to request from their health care provider a prescription for medication they can decide to self-ingest to die peacefully in their sleep. 

MAiD is practiced in 10 states plus the District of Columbia. It was adopted first in Oregon in 1997. It has been available to Vermont residents since 2013 and in Maine since 2019.

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Who is eligible for medical aid in dying?

What’s the difference between MAiD and suicide?

People choosing MAiD know they are dying. Most choose to die with loved ones with them in their own homes. Qualifying for MAiD is a formal, step- by-step process in consultation with health care providers and attested to by witnesses. Suicide is none of these things.

Nonetheless, medical aid in dying is sometimes incorrectly referred to as “assisted physician suicide,” “physician aid in dying,” and “euthanasia.”  Medical aid in dying is not assisted suicide, suicide, or euthanasia. These terms are misleading and legally incorrect. 

All states where MAiD is part of end-of-life care specify in their laws that it is not suicide, and supporting someone choosing the MAiD option is not assisting suicide.

The American Association of Suicidology states that MAiD (which it refers to as “physician aid in dying” is not suicide. You can read the statement here.

To be eligible for aid-in-dying medication, an individual must meet all four criteria:

  1. An adult (aged 18 or older);  

  2. Terminally ill with a prognosis of six months or less to live;

  3. Mentally capable of making their own healthcare decisions; and

  4. Able to self-administer the medication. 

 Two health care providers independently assess that the person meets all four criteria.

In addition to the strict eligibility criteria, MAiD laws establish the following core safeguards:

  • The prescribing and consulting health care providers must inform the terminally ill person requesting medical aid in dying about all other end-of-life care options.

What safeguards are in place?

Safeguards, con’t

These other options include comfort care, hospice care, pain control, and palliative care;

  • The  prescribing and consulting health care providers must inform the person requesting medical aid in dying that they can change their mind at any time. The person’s right to change their mind includes deciding not to self-ingest the medication once they have obtained it;

  • The prescribing and consulting health care providers must also offer the person an opportunity to rescind their request.   

These core safeguards ensure that the person’s own preferences, needs, and values are honored, and guide all clinical decisions, including the decision to use or not use the medical-aid-in-dying option. 

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What will it take to bring this option to New Hampshire?

Making medical aid in dying an option for New Hampshire citizens will take a grassroots effort. That means all of us, regardless of political affiliation, religion or faith or ideology, or any other thing that may seem to divide us.

We truly have one thing in common: we all will die. We believe that having the freedom to determine how we end our lives, when death is inevitable, is a basic human right.

This is the first time there has been a formal, organized, strategic grassroots effort to bring the option of medical aid in dying to New Hampshire.

Your help is needed to make this happen. Being an advocate could mean writing letters to the editor, hosting a house party, contacting your state representative, testifying at a bill hearing, talking with friends, neighbors, and your own health care providers, and perhaps most importantly, sharing a story have about why this issue is so important to you.

Financial support is critical, because winning this campaign means drawing on expertise from lawyers, lobbyists, and others, as well as holding many community-based and legislative events.

NH Options is a 501c3 organization and donations are tax deductible. Every donation goes right to work spreading the word about the NH End of Life Options Act.

Questions? Comments? Ready to help? Please contact us at (603) 728-5577 (phone and text) or email Executive Director Rebecca Brown at rbrown@nhendoflifeoptions.org

For more information on the Alliance and our mission, please visit www.nhendoflifeoptions.org

Please make a difference today. Lives depend on It.  Donate here!