I'd suggest to you that your "feeling" that Lyon hasn't attended a MAID death is wrong and is an arrogant and foolish assumption on your part.
With over 60 000 MAID deaths in Canada its laughable for you to think that by attending a few and talking with providers with that you can say that most MAID deaths are "joyful". Yes one would hope that most recipients would be content to get what they have requested unless they have been coerced into requesting it in the first place. But you seem to ignore the fact that published data support that most natural deaths are peaceful whether they are expected or not. As an ethicist removed from the direct clinical interface this isn't surprising. How many natural deaths have you attended?
Yes we have heard of anecdotes of boutique designer death experiences and death parties but that doesn't make them usual or standard. Family members who are distressed or unhappy with MAID deaths often vote with their feet and so are not present at the bedside at all -or if they attend remain quiet. Others wouldn't bother contacting the MAID providers as what's the point? There is also no evidence that MAID deaths are less likely to cause complicated grief reactions in family members compared with natural deaths.
If you ask the relatives of Alan Nichols and Donna Duncan about their views on their relative's MAID deaths. you will find that they were neither designer deaths experiences nor " joyful" experiences for these relatives at all.
Good post. When this issue cropped up in a blog post I wrote on suicide, I just stipulated that “by “intolerable pain”, I mean a pain so bad that someone might prefer to kill themselves before enduring it. I don’t mean the pain is *literally* impossible to tolerate.” https://open.substack.com/pub/wollenblog/p/swinburnes-argument-against-suicide?r=2248ub&utm_medium=ios
I'd suggest to you that your "feeling" that Lyon hasn't attended a MAID death is wrong and is an arrogant and foolish assumption on your part.
With over 60 000 MAID deaths in Canada its laughable for you to think that by attending a few and talking with providers with that you can say that most MAID deaths are "joyful". Yes one would hope that most recipients would be content to get what they have requested unless they have been coerced into requesting it in the first place. But you seem to ignore the fact that published data support that most natural deaths are peaceful whether they are expected or not. As an ethicist removed from the direct clinical interface this isn't surprising. How many natural deaths have you attended?
Yes we have heard of anecdotes of boutique designer death experiences and death parties but that doesn't make them usual or standard. Family members who are distressed or unhappy with MAID deaths often vote with their feet and so are not present at the bedside at all -or if they attend remain quiet. Others wouldn't bother contacting the MAID providers as what's the point? There is also no evidence that MAID deaths are less likely to cause complicated grief reactions in family members compared with natural deaths.
If you ask the relatives of Alan Nichols and Donna Duncan about their views on their relative's MAID deaths. you will find that they were neither designer deaths experiences nor " joyful" experiences for these relatives at all.
An academic criticism of my paper is fair game. But this is not a factual statement:
"In reading his paper, one gets the feeling that Lyon has never seen an assisted death, which is too bad."
My family and I witnessed my father's MAiD euthanasia. You may post a correction.
Thanks for letting me know. I've posted a correction.