#8: Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)

SY: Good morning. Welcome to Dr. Michael Gordon's Medical Narrative Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Susanna Yanivker. I have been in practice for 25 years and have an interest in emergency medicine, intensive care and air ambulance, as well as choice in health care and end of life medicine. Today we have a very special episode. For the first time, we are doing a series of topics on Medical Assistance in Dying, otherwise known as MAiD.

SY: MAiD is sensitive and deeply personal topic. In 2016, federal legislation was introduced in Canada to allow individuals who are suffering from serious and incurable illness, disease or disability to apply for and if eligible, receive MAiD. We will be speaking to Dr. Michael Gordon, who is well known to our listeners as the host of the Medical Narratives podcast and regular contributor to Health Plexus and the Journal of Current Clinical Care.

SY: Michael is an Emeritus Professor of medicine and a member of the University of Toronto's Joint Centre for Bioethics. And this capacity is involved in ethics, education, primarily for health care providers. He has written and spoken widely in the field of medical ethics, especially in relation to the elderly and end of life care. Our special guest today also is Dr. Chantal Perrot, who's a family physician, psychotherapist in Toronto.

SY: She has been active in choice and health care for over four decades and has been providing Medical Assistance in Dying and assessments and procedures for patients since July 2016. Dr. Perrot is frequently called upon to speak about MAiD to both professional and general audiences. She's a member of Dying with Dignity Board of Directors and also Past-Chair of the Board of Directors of MAiDHouse.

SY: She's a member of the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers and a moderator of the Camp MAiD Providers Forum. Welcome to both of you, and thank you for taking the time to speak to me today about this very important subject. So let's get started.

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