Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID)

Medical assistance in dying is allowed if a patient…

• is at least 18 years old and mentally competent
• has a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability (excluding a mental illness until March 17, 2023)
• is in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capabilities
• is enduring intolerable physical or psychological suffering, caused by either the illness, disease or disability, or by the advanced state of decline in capabilities, that cannot be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable.
• has freely and voluntarily requested assistance
• has provided informed consent
• is covered by funded health services

Patients must have a serious illness that is advanced and is not something they will recover from. The patient must be suffering. A request for information or assessment must be patient-driven.

Patients seeking additional information about a medically assisted death can talk to a health care provider. Not all will be able to offer this service and some may choose not to offer this service. However, they all must arrange for timely access to information and resources upon request from the patient. An overview of the process is available from the Government of Saskatchewan.