Absolutely. There were two patients I met with yesterday. One is a 72-year-old man with chronic pain and vascular dementia. He's living quite happily, but he wants to know that if he had a stroke next week he would be able to have MAID. However, he doesn't want to set a date for MAID. He's not suffering intolerably yet, so he wouldn't meet the criteria. He's not able to....
Another is an 85-year-old woman with terminal cancer. What she's living with kind of boggles my mind. She also doesn't want to set a date. She knows that if she develops brain metastasis, she is quite likely to lose capacity. She wants to be able to set an advance request. She's somebody I will stay in close contact with, because I am concerned about her losing capacity. I want her to have the choice of MAID, but she's just not ready to set a date for MAID.
It would really make a difference for people like that.
I'm providing MAID for a woman in a couple of weeks. I first met her a year and a half ago. What she really wanted was an advance request. Her past year and a half would have been much more peaceful had she known that, in the event of incapacity, she would be able to receive MAID. Now that she has set the date and has a waiver of final consent, she's happy. She's much more at peace.