The VPS Blog today offers a legal perspective on the issue of MAiD monitoring with a new commentary in the series " Why Monitoring Matters". Featured this week are the reflections of VPS Advisor Jonas Beaudry, titled " MAiD Monitoring and the Carter Compromise". 

The " Carter compromise", according to Professor Beaudry, is the reasoning by which our Supreme Court balanced "the interests of people who wish to access MAiD and the interests of people who are vulnerable to unwanted assistance in dying". Safeguards, according to the Court, would provide the assurance that MAiD could be introduced without imperiling lives that might otherwise be at risk. 

But safeguards in and of themselves, Professor Beaudry explains, will do little to protect the rights "of those who may have been nudged into dying because the range of their social options has been limited in such a way that suicide appears to be the most reasonable option". For this reason, Professor Beaudry argues that our government must systematically gather information about the motivations and circumstances of people who request MAID. 

"Ableism and ageism are real, harmful ideologies pervading the nooks and crannies of our culture and the impact of MAiD on these groups must be closely monitored if we aim to take equality seriously". 

Clearly, these are not merely matters of academic concern. 

A sobering illustration of Professor Beaudry's contention came to life in a recent media report titled " The solution is assisted life". This CTV news investigation highlighted the experience of an Ontario man named Roger Foley, who has filed a lawsuit alleging that health officials will not provide him with the support he requires to live with dignity, instead offering medically assisted death as an option. 

Professor Beaudry reminds us that "there is hard empirical and conceptual work ahead to strike a fair balance between the rights and interests of everyone". Ensuring that we understand and can respond appropriately to citizens who find themselves in circumstances like Roger Foley, is at the heart of the VPS recommendations for MAiD monitoring, submitted to the federal government in February. Since that time, a variety of guest Bloggers continue to offer a range of insights and perspectives on the critical importance of robust MAiD monitoring.