Research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society showed that patients with cancer are the group most likely to use medical aid in dying (MAID) in the United States.
Researchers analyzed data across 9 jurisdictions where MAID is legal in the US and found that 74% of MAID users had cancer. Patients who used MAID also tend to be older, were more likely to be white, and typically had some higher education.
For this study, the researchers aggregated data from 9 US jurisdictions with MAID laws that had publicly available records from 1998 to 2020. During this time, 5329 patients died by MAID, and 8451 patients received a prescription for MAID.
Reference: Kozlov E, Nowels M, Gusmano M, Habib M, Duberstein P. Aggregating 23 years of data on medical aid in dying in the United States. J Am Geriatr Soc. Published online June 16, 2022. doi:10.111/jgs.17925.
United States of America