Assigning responsibility for the ‘right to die’: moral and legal ambiguity in the regulation of assisted dying

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• Janna Bryson, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology
• Tuesday 28 January 2025, 13:10-14:00
• 1 Newnham Terrace seminar room, Darwin College.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr Amelia Hassoun.

In 2021, Canada passed legislation to change its medical assistance in dying (MAID) program from one in which eligibility was restricted to individuals nearing end-of-life to one in which individuals with serious but non-fatal illnesses, diseases, or disabilities could be eligible. Proponents of this change often frame it as a victory for patient autonomy, arguing that it had been a paternalistic moral imposition for the state to restrict the so-called ‘right to die’ to individuals who were already near death. However, this expanded MAID program still relies on state-defined eligibility criteria as to what kind of suffering renders intentional death acceptable. The 2021 MAID eligibility expansion was, therefore, not a removal of moral values from MAID law but rather a change in which moral values are deemed most legitimate. My dissertation research aims to shed light on this significant socio-moral change by examining the relationship between moral and political values in the context of the legitimisation of MAID in Canada. This talk focuses in on a specific theme that emerged during fieldwork interviews: ambiguity. Both pro- and anti-MAID interviewees – all of whom were legal, medical, or political experts on assisted dying – would often raise concerns that the Canadian MAID legislation was too ambiguous. I argue that this legal ambiguity has the effect of diffusing moral responsibility for MAID eligibility decisions, and that this diffusion has the double-edged potential to reduce both moral injury and oversight efficacy.

This talk is part of the Darwin College Humanities and Social Sciences Seminars series.

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