Ethics and MAiD: Disrupting Death with Eric Mathison

“People should be allowed to be authors of their own lives to make decisions for themselves if they have the capacity to do and having doctors say, or having the government say we don't think you're actually, able or qualified to make this decision. You need our approval. I think that's ethically unjustified.” In this episode, Kathy and Keri-Lyn wax philosophical with Eric Mathison, PhD, contemplating clinical and practical ethical questions about medical assistance in dying (MAiD).  Eric Mathison is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto Scarborough, where he researches bioethics, including ethical questions about MAiD. Prior to this, Eric was a clinical ethicist for Alberta Health Services, which involved working with healthcare providers to address ethical questions that arose in patient care. He also did policy work related to the pandemic, including on the ethics of mandatory vaccination policies, distributing scarce resources fairly, and incentivizing people to get vaccinated. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Baylor College of Medicine and has a PhD from the University of Toronto. Music for Disrupting Death was created by the ever-lovely Sarah McInnis. Sarah is a music therapist, a songwriter, a multi-instrumentalist and End-of-Life Doula. In 2021, Sarah began The Legacy Song Project, writing original songs for folks at the end-of-life, and for folks who have lost loved ones. To learn more about Sarah, visit her website https://sarahmcinnis.com. This episode of Disrupting Death was produced by Keri-Lyn Durant.