Medical Assistance in Dying for Multiple Chemical Sensitivities: A System Failure?

We were astonished to read a recent media news item about a 51-year-old woman in Ontario who was offered and accepted medical assistance in dying (MAID) because she was experiencing multiple chemical sensitivities, also known by its preferred diagnostic term, idiopathic environmental intolerance (I...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Canadian Journal of Bioethics
Main Authors:	Sebastian Straube, Charl Els, Xiangning Fan
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Programmes de bioéthique, École de santé publique de l'Université de Montréal 2022-12-01
Subjects:	medical assistance in dying MAID chemical sensitivities healthcare system social services idiopathic environmental intolerance
Online Access:	https://cjb-rcb.ca/index.php/cjb-rcb/article/view/563

Similar Items

News Items About the Use of Medical Assistance in Dying Raise Concerns About the System in Canada
by: Sebastian Straube, et al.
Published: (2023-12-01)

Questioning the Ethics of Assisted Dying for the Mentally Ill
by: Patrick Craine
Published: (2023-12-01)

Refusing care as a legal pathway to medical assistance in dying
by: Jocelyn Downie, et al.
Published: (2019-06-01)

MAiD for Mental Illness Patients - What's Holding Us Back?
by: Nhat Hung Lam
Published: (2023-05-01)

Symptom Burden and Complexity in the Last 12 Months of Life among Cancer Patients Choosing Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) in Alberta, Canada
by: Linda Watson, et al.
Published: (2022-03-01)

Medical Assistance in Dying for Persons Suffering Solely from Mental Illness in Canada
by: Chloe Eunice Panganiban, et al.
Published: (2025-01-01)

Medical Assistance in Dying for Persons Suffering Solely from Mental Illness in Canada
by: Chloe Eunice Panganiban, et al.
Published: (2025-01-01)

Responding to Hospital Staff’s Paranormal Experiences Related to a Medical Assistance in Dying Room
by: Olivia Schuman, et al.
Published: (2020-07-01)

Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: Language Lost in MAiD
by: Rafal Gromadzki, et al.
Published: (2024-06-01)

Where Do I Go to Wait? Ethical Considerations During the 90 Day Reflection Period for MAiD
by: Kesi Disha, et al.
Published: (2023-04-01)

Ethics of Medical Assistance in Dying for Non-Terminal Illness: A Comparison of Mental and Physical Illness in Canada and Europe
by: Katharine Birkness, et al.
Published: (2023-12-01)

Factors That Influence Access to Medical Assistance in Dying Services: An Integrative Review
by: Jayne Hewitt, et al.
Published: (2024-10-01)

Requests for physician-assisted suicide in German general practice: frequency, content, and motives– a qualitative analysis of GPs’ experiences
by: Luise Farr, et al.
Published: (2025-04-01)

Causes for Conscientious Objection in Medical Aid in Dying: A Scoping Review
by: Rosana Triviño-Caballero, et al.
Published: (2023-12-01)

Development of learning objectives for a medical assistance in dying curriculum for Family Medicine Residency
by: Sarah LeBlanc, et al.
Published: (2022-03-01)

Plagued to Death by Ableism: What the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Expansion of Eligibility for MAID Reveal About the Lethal Dangers of Medical and Systemic Ableism in Canada
by: Heidi Janz
Published: (2023-12-01)

Demographic influences on Lithuanian physicians’ attitudes toward medical assistance in dying: a cross-sectional study
by: Benedikt Bachmetjev, et al.
Published: (2025-01-01)

An Advance Request: The Accessibility of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) for Patients Who Loose Decision-Making Capacity
by: Natasha Harris
Published: (2021-04-01)

Developing a survey to measure nursing students’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, influences, and willingness to be involved in Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD): a mixed method modified e-Delphi study
by: Jocelyn Schroeder, et al.
Published: (2024-05-01)

Views on medical assistance in dying and related arguments: a survey of doctors and nurses at a university hospital
by: Svanur Sigurbjörnsson, et al.
Published: (2024-11-01)

Physicians’ moral distinctions between medical assistance in dying (MAiD) and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment in Canada: a qualitative descriptive study
by: Midori Matthew, et al.
Published: (2025-02-01)

Experiences of persons with multiple chemical sensitivity with mental health providers
by: Gibson PR, et al.
Published: (2016-04-01)

Clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of borderline personality disorder: a systematic review of best practice in anticipation of MAiD MD-SUMC
by: Hira M. Aslam, et al.
Published: (2025-04-01)

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
by: Gesualdo M. Zucco, et al.
Published: (2021-12-01)

Comparison of environmental intolerances and symptoms between patients with multiple chemical sensitivity, subjects with self-reported electromagnetic hypersensitivity, patients with bronchial asthma, and the general population
by: Atsushi Mizukoshi, et al.
Published: (2023-04-01)

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: The Underrecognized Diagnosis but True Disease
by: V. Bellman, et al.
Published: (2022-06-01)

Policies and cost analyses of voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws – a mapping review & analysis
by: Sami Isaac, et al.
Published: (2024-08-01)

An Ethics Journey: From Kant to Assisted Suicide
by: Michael Gordon
Published: (2023-04-01)

Objections to assisted dying within institutions: systemic solutions for rapprochement
by: Carmelle Peisah, et al.
Published: (2023-11-01)

Chemical Exposure, Risk of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and Occupational Safety
by: Paolo D. Pigatto, et al.
Published: (2020-09-01)

Canadian nursing students’ understanding, and comfort levels related to Medical Assistance in Dying
by: Shelley E. Canning, et al.
Published: (2022-06-01)

Denying Assisted Dying Where Death is Not ‘Reasonably Foreseeable’: Intolerable Overgeneralization in Canadian End-of-Life Law
by: Kevin Reel
Published: (2018-12-01)

Too much safety? Safeguards and equal access in the context of voluntary assisted dying legislation
by: Rosalind McDougall, et al.
Published: (2020-05-01)

Frozen Bodies and Future Imaginaries: Assisted Dying, Cryonics, and a Good Death
by: Jeremy Cohen
Published: (2020-11-01)

Decriminalising and legalising medical assistance in dying
by: J P van Niekerk, et al.
Published: (2024-02-01)

The impact on patients of objections by institutions to assisted dying: a qualitative study of family caregivers’ perceptions
by: Ben P. White, et al.
Published: (2023-03-01)

The impact of COVID-19 on the experiences of patients and their family caregivers with medical assistance in dying in hospital
by: Eryn Tong, et al.
Published: (2023-06-01)

A qualitative study of experiences of institutional objection to medical assistance in dying in Canada: ongoing challenges and catalysts for change
by: Eliana Close, et al.
Published: (2023-09-01)

Rural healthcare professionals’ participation in Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD): beyond a binary decision
by: Monique Sedgwick, et al.
Published: (2024-04-01)

In a Familiar Voice: The Dominant Role of Women in Shaping Canadian Policy on Medical Assistance in Dying
by: Daryl Pullman
Published: (2020-11-01)