FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2025
In response to Health Canada’s consultation report regarding advance requests for medical assistance in dying (MAiD), Rebecca Vachon, PhD, Health Program Director at Cardus issued the following statement:
“As Cardus Health noted in its policy brief to Health Canada, academic literature and existing data suggest that allowing advance requests for MAiD carries notable risks. The practice is legal in very few jurisdictions, so knowledge about the actual use of advance MAiD requests remains extremely limited. Significant concerns remain that advance MAiD requests compromise—rather than protect—informed consent by possibly contradicting patients’ present agency in favour of a past decision, which may have been based on the stigma or fears attached to dementia diagnoses.
An important point raised in the Health Canada report was the need for improvements in healthcare and social services for those nearing the end of their lives generally, including palliative care, home care, and long-term care. Cardus calls on the federal government to provide the leadership needed to ensure Canadians can access high-quality and timely care, particularly when facing the end of life as well as diagnoses such as dementia.”
- Rebecca Vachon, PhD, Health Program Director at Cardus
For a more detailed discussion of the risks of advance MAiD requests, please see:
MEDIA INQUIRIES
Daniel Proussalidis
Cardus – Director of Media and Public Relations
613-241-4500 x508
drpoussalidis@cardus.ca
Cardus – Imagination toward a thriving society
Cardus is a non-partisan think tank dedicated to clarifying and strengthening, through research and dialogue, the ways in which society’s institutions can work together for the common good.