The Latest Data on Medical Aid in Dying in the United States and What It Tells Us

Medical aid in dying (MAID) is legal in 11 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, with 16 other states engaged in proposed legislation. Americans now have a meaningful opportunity to alter the quality of their final days. Fears that disadvantaged patients would be coerced into using MAID have been at the forefront of the legalization debate for decades. A total of 28 years have elapsed since Oregon first implemented its legal use in 1998. The most accurate narrative around the controversial practice emerges from examining the recent data from nine reporting states where MAID is legal. The details about patients who have used it shed light on the conversation; they include ethnicity, age, sex, level of education, socioeconomic status, hospice enrollment, diagnosis, rationale for choosing MAID, knowledge about it, interest in it, and rate of use. The numbers illustrate a story of access inequity and barriers to end-of-life care that mirror the inequities across U.S. healthcare. This article reviews the main arguments for and against MAID, presents reported data on MAID recipients, and discusses the implications. The debate continues unabated. The current data and ideas presented here aim to inform ethicists, healthcare professionals, and lawmakers, who together have an opportunity to reshape the narrative around end-of-life care in the United States.