Using Medical Aid in Dying to Avoid Late-Stage Dementia
December 8, 2024 – Lecture by Professor Thaddeus Pope, JD, PhD. Many Americans want to avoid living into late-stage dementia. Their available end-of-life options include: voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED), VSED by advance directive, using inert gas, and medical aid in dying in Switzerland. But commentators and advocates have long dismissed medical aid in dying as an available option within the United States. After all, persons with dementia as their sole underlying illness cannot satisfy eligibility requirements in the law. They lack a 6-month prognosis when they still retain decision-making capacity. And they lack capacity when they have a 6-month prognosis.
Someday, these eligibility rules will change through bills like California S.B.1196. But even in the meantime, patients with dementia can use medical aid in dying. Some already have. If the patient begins VSED while they still have capacity, clinicians can certify the patient as terminally ill within 24-48 hours. The patient can then switch from VSED to MAiD.
Thaddeus Mason Pope is a foremost expert on medical law and clinical ethics. He maintains a special focus on patient rights, healthcare decision making, and end-of-life options. A Hastings Center Fellow and former Fulbright Scholar, Pope is a law professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Kathryn Tucker, JD is the Executive Director of the End-of-Life Liberty Project, Special Advocacy Advisor of the National Psychedelics Association, and Founding Board Member of the Psychedelic Bar Association. She has worked for over 3 decades to expand choice at the end of life. In this lecture recorded February 14, 2026, Kathryn discusses the ongoing effort to allow people facing death to seek relief from psychological suffering and die gently through psychedelic therapy. She challenges us to rethink one of life’s most universal experiences: dying.
Videography by Michael Daniels Phone 858-202-0507
While current medical advances help us live longer, they often fail to ensure a life of sufficient quality and dignity, especially for those facing Alzheimer’s or other dementias. This presentation by Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD examines four well-established end-of-life choices as well as five emerging choices. It also examines three theoretical options that push the boundaries of what may one day be legally possible in the U.S. Some of these ideas challenge public comfort and policy. But all are grounded in compassion, reason, and respect for personal choice. We hope you benefit from this informed and courageous discussion about how we might expand end-of-life options for aging Americans in the years ahead. https://www.thaddeuspope.com/
December 6, 2025. Doctors play a crucial role in the way we die as essential advisors, medical providers, and coordinators of our healthcare decisions and plans. In this meeting, a panel of 3 doctors discuss why they support Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), what changes they’d like to see in the law, and how they personally want to die. The panel also answered questions from the meeting participants.
SPEAKERS:
Curtis Krock, MD, A retired pulmonologist who practiced for 20 years and a member of the Hemlock Society Board of Directors.
Robert Gunn, MD, A retired physician whose wife chose Medical Aid in Dying.
Flora Danque, MD, Medical Director of Apreva Hospice.
October 19, 2025. Board Secretary Christie Golemb and lifetime member Pamela Harper present a history of our organization and an overview of end-of-life options.
