In March, GeriPal, a geriatrics and palliative care podcast, invited Hope Wechkin, medical director of EvergreenHealth home hospice, Thaddeus Pope, JD, and Dr. Joshua Briscoe on to discuss ethical issues around using an advanced directive to stop eating and drinking (SED), as well as the topic of voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) as a potential […]
GeriPal Podcast on issues around SED, VSED, and MAiD Read More »
In late 2024, attorney, medical ethics expert, and VSED advocate Professor Thaddeus Pope gave a virtual talk to the Hemlock Society of San Diego about how dementia patients might be able to utilize medical-aid-in-dying to avoid late stages of their disease. As Professor Pope explains, if the patient were to begin VSED while they still
Using VSED and Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) to Avoid Late-Stage Dementia Read More »
Canada’s medical assistance in dying law continues to evolve. A February 2015 Canadian Supreme Court ruling, Carter v. Canada, paved the way for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. The following year, Parliament passed federal legislation to allow Canadian residents to request MAiD under very specific circumstances and rules; generally, visitors to Canada are not eligible. Eligibility requirements
Quebec to approve advance requests for MAID as of Oct. 30, 2024 Read More »
British co-authors Anna Wharton and Wendy Mitchell penned three bestselling books before Wendy, diagnosed in 2014 with early-onset Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, chose VSED to escape the final stages of her disease. Shortly after Wendy’s death in February 2024, Anna wrote a post for her blog, White Ink, about medical aid in dying in the
Wendy Mitchell: The Case for Assisted Dying in the UK Read More »
In February 2024, after a decade-long battle with early-onset dementia, British author Wendy Mitchell chose to stop eating and drinking. She details her decision-making process in a post titled, “My final hug in a mug….” on the blog Which Me am I Today? Wendy started her blog shortly after her diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s and vascular
VSED Stories: Wendy Mitchell’s Choice Read More »
In a new article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, “Medical aid in dying to avoid late-stage dementia,” authors Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD, and Lisa Brodoff, JD, discuss the plight of patients with dementia who wish to use medical aid-in-dying (MAiD) but are unable to qualify due to an inability to satisfy the
Using VSED as a bridge to MAiD for people with dementia? Read More »
The first issue of the Journal of Aid-in-Dying Medicine has now been published online. The Journal is online only; i.e., there is no print version. The Journal is also open access, meaning that anyone can read it. There is no paywall for any articles, thanks to advertisers. Some highlights from this first issue: A discussion
New journal on medical-aid-in-dying (MAID) Read More »
In mid-February, VRNW co-founders Nancy Simmers and Andrea Fenwick were interviewed for an article that appeared in the Salish Current, a nonprofit, online local news organization serving Whatcom, San Juan, and Skagit counties. Journalist Kai Uyehara also interviewed Cassa Sutherland, End of Life Washington‘s client services manager, and Lashanna Williams, executive director of Seattle-based A Sacred
In the News: VRNW members interviewed by the Salish Current Read More »
Recently, retired newspaper photographer Peter Haley penned an editorial in the Seattle Times: “State’s ‘Death with Dignity’ law failed my wife.” In his piece, Haley wrote that Toni, his “beloved wife of 27 years,” was forced to die alone because Washington state’s medical aid-in-dying (MAID) law doesn’t cover ALS. Toni chose to die on her
VRNW Member Responds to Seattle Times Article about WA’s Death with Dignity/MAID Law Read More »
