(New York Times) – Earlier this year, my mother ended her life via medical aid in dying, also known as MAID. She had A.L.S., so she was suffering in many ways, and her choice to die in this manner felt right. Probably because it felt that way, in the time leading up to her death I didn’t have many unanswered questions about MAID. I knew it was legal nationwide in Canada, where I’m from and where my mom lived. (There it’s called medical assistance in dying, and unlike in the United States, patients can apply for it when their disease is nonterminal, as long as they have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition.”) I was also aware that in the United States MAID was legal in only 10 states and the District of Columbia. That’s pretty much what I knew, and that was enough.

That is, until a fellow journalist friend of mine sent me an article about Ellen Wiebe, a MAID provider in British Columbia. The friend suggested that Wiebe might make a good interview subject for me. (Read More)