“As more countries consider legalizing MAID, understanding what drives people to choose assisted death is essential to both evidence-driven debates and improving care for serious conditions,” says Dr. James Downar. People accessing MAID around the world are remarkably similar in terms of their underlying illnesses, according to a study led by Dr. James Downar published in JAMA Internal Medicine. 

The team looked at data from over 184,000 people who accessed MAID in 20 jurisdictions around the world between 1999 and 2023. Most MAID recipients had cancer (66.5 per cent of cases), followed by neurological diseases (8.1 per cent), heart conditions (6.8 per cent) and lung conditions (4.9 per cent). 

When looking at all causes of death, people with ALS had the highest rate of death by MAID (16.8 per cent of deaths), followed by cancer (3.7 per cent of deaths). 

Even though absolute MAID rates and eligibility criteria vary by jurisdiction, the relative rates for specific diseases were consistent. These findings suggest that choosing MAID is driven by disease-related factors like rapid decline and loss of dignity, rather than a region’s MAID eligibility criteria, access to palliative care services or social assistance. 

“As more countries consider legalizing MAID, understanding what drives people to choose assisted death is essential to both evidence-driven debates and improving care for serious conditions,” says Dr. Downar, a palliative and critical care physician and associate scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and Bruyère. See EuroNews and The Conversation for more.

Authors: Brandon Heidinger, Colleen Webber, Kenneth Chambaere, Eliana Close, Luc Deliens, Bregje Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Thaddeus Pope, Agnes van der Heide, Ben White, James Downar.

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.