A repertoire and critical review of international resources relevant to medical assistance in dying where a mental disorder is the sole underlying medical condition

Background

The possibility of asking for help in ending one's life is at the heart of some of the most enduring debates in medicine and bioethics. As a growing number of countries open to the practice, many concerns are emerging internationally about medical assistance in dying where a mental disorder is the sole underlying medical condition (MAiD-MD). It is paramount to understand what academic literature and resources are available to support different stakeholders in the context of MAiD-MD.

Objectives

This review aims to specifically identify various resources related to MAiD-MD and to initiate a process of compiling international resources to raise awareness about certain resources and support stakeholders to develop new resources.

Methods

This review of resources adopted a methodology inspired by the work of Arksey and O'Malley (2005) and Levac et al. (2010)’s scoping studies, as well as more structured forms of thematic literature reviews for content extraction.

Results

165 resources related directly or indirectly to MAiD-MD were identified and grouped according to the following six categories: 1) Laws, judgments, decisions, and reports from the operationalization of laws; 2) Ethical and clinical guidelines, protocols, practice guides, and information for healthcare professionals; 3) Resource directories; 4) Resources for sharing experiences, discussions, support or training; 5) Written resources for MAiD applicants, their relatives or the population; 6) Resources to support reflections and guide the development of practices. Twenty main relevant themes were identified through the thematic analysis. These themes are addressed and explored in varying degrees of depth throughout different resources.

Discussion

A diversity of relevant resources is developed internationally, but these are sometimes dispersed, little known, or inaccessible to the public. Numerous resources are developed to inform the various stakeholders and train healthcare professionals, but there seems to be a need to develop advanced support resources to help the various stakeholders in the context of MAiD-MD.