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In cases of dementia, the decision about timing is crucial
In many places now, Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) is available to people with terminal illnesses who have the mental ability to choose to die and who wish to have medical assistance in doing so. I think this is a very humane way for people to end or avoid pain and suffering from incurable illness.
But arrangements for MAID in anticipation of terminal dementia are more problematic and more controversial. I have known quite a few people who have declined into states of terminal dementia and yet have been kept alive for years. And I know many other people who, like me, say that we wouldn’t want to be kept alive if our brains deteriorate to the extent that we can no longer control many of our bodily functions and that we no longer exhibit much conscious awareness. We would like to be able to have medical assistance in dying under those conditions.
As I see it, the main problem with MAID in anticipation of terminal dementia is timing: Who is to decide when the person’s life is to be ended. That can be a difficult decision to leave to loved ones.
I think that problem can be overcome if the person requesting MAID describes the timing of their death specifically in advance. For example, if I were to decline into a state of terminal dementia, I would like to be assisted in dying gently on the earliest possible sunny day after the diagnosis of terminal dementia were made by qualified doctors and accepted by most or all of my loved ones.
