This is awesome!

Sometimes they hasten death though for people who just need help. You have to look at the whole picture… my mom was starving herself and attempt suicide 72 hours before her Maid appointment. We couldn’t legally stop it. She wasn’t terminal and needed help to live, not die.

If Maid was guaranteed to go smoothly, providers wouldn’t be mandated to carry a back up kit. In one case, it took a patient 108 hours to die. Why don’t you talk more about those? Your organization lacks transparency which is a HUGE red flag. Talk about the risks so patients are TRULY informed.

It is unethical for your organization to continue the narrative that it is a peaceful death, or a dignified choice, when you aren’t painting the whole picture. There are very serious risks, as with any medical procedure. Maid is not guaranteed to be pain free or to go smoothly.

It’s rare that an autopsy is performed on a Maid patient, however, as my mother’s executor, I ordered one. It’s shows her lungs were filled with bodily fluid. With no respiratory illness (not even a cold) at the time of her death, this confirms that in her case, she did drown to death.

I understand this completely. Your narrative is concerning though as you often insinuate that a natural death is painful or somehow undignified… and that Maid is how to “die with dignity”.

You don’t know that bc the only people who have experienced the lethal doses are dead. My mom’s autopsy after Maid showed she had pulmonary edema, meaning she drowned to death in her own fluids. And to argue that sedation is always a peaceful experience is also untrue.

That’s actually false. There is no required combination or doses of drugs. Drs can create their own concoctions and the levels that are used to end someone’s life have never been tested to rule out suffering. And you can’t ask the patient after bc they are dead.

This is just a description of one way an assessment takes place. In my mom’s case, she was approved against her dr and family’s objection. She was killed by Maid four hours after being released from a psychiatric unit without her family’s knowledge. She did not have a terminal condition.

No practitioner (Maid, dr, doula, or otherwise) can claim they truly know the effects of the drugs bc no research has ever been done of the efficacy of the drugs used in combination. There’s no standardized protocol and drs self report so there’s not enough data to make a claim that maid is “good”.

This post implies that a “good death” is a Maid death, so wondering how doulas explain that their death by Maid might in fact, not be “good”. It’s important to discuss the risks.

When I completed my end of life doula certification, Maid was lightly touched on and there was no mention that practitioners need to bring backup kits as the meds don’t always have the desired effect.

I’ve spoken to families who have witnessed the difficult Maid death of a loved one, seemingly coming back to life after the drugs were administered, writhing in pain. I think it’s a dangerous narrative to insinuate that natural deaths are difficult.