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.