Undergraduate Students' Attitudes Towards Medical Assistance in Dying for Mental Illness.

Abstract

Seventy-one undergraduate students took part in a study examining their attitudes toward medical assistance in dying (MAiD) for mental illness. More than half (52%) of the students did not know that a change to Canada's MAiD law will allow people with a mental illness as their sole underlying condition to request a medically assisted death next spring (ie, March, 2024). Less than a one-third (28%) of the students agreed/strongly agreed with the statement that MAiD should be offered to people receiving treatment for mental illness (42% disagreed/strongly disagreed), and even less (14%) agreed/strongly agreed with the statement that people waiting for treatment for mental illness should be able to access MAiD (71% disagreed/strongly disagreed). In explaining their answers to the second statement, over two-thirds (68%) of the students believed that people who are waiting to be treated for mental illness should receive treatment first, before considering MAiD. In other words, undergoing treatment for mental illness that might work was seen as a better option than dying.