What should we make of Medical Assistance in Dying providers' 'lived experience'?

A critical exchange the Death Studies journal between the authors of a recent paper and me addresses this question

The full exchange between the authors of a recent paper on MAID providers’ lived experience and me is now online in the Death Studies journal. Most of the series is open access, but contact me or leave a note in the comments if you cannot access them.

1. Beuthin and Bruce MAiD as human connection: Stories and metaphors of physician providers’ existential lived experience
   
   Abstract ‘Being the one who provides an assisted death is complex and profound, and yet the lived experience of this novel act is little understood in Canada. In this article, we highlight the methodological issue of how one might peer behind emergent threads that addressed us in the data. A narrative-hermeneutic approach revealed that for the eight providers we interviewed, this is an embodied existential experience. The act of providing MAiD fostered embodied feelings of conviction, courage, compassion, and intimacy. We ultimately find that the experience of providing MAiD is human connection. The experience holds a dimension of the existential and provides a way to get closer to the unsayable profoundness that occurs in the space of providing death for a suffering other. This is important if not crucial in medicine and health care, as shared experiences connect us to what it is to be human, especially at end of life.’
   
   

2. Lyon Human misconnection? A response to Beuthin and Bruce on medical assistance in dying providers’ lived experience

   
   Abstract ‘Beuthin and Bruce’s study ‘MAiD as human connection: Stories and metaphors of physician providers existential lived experience’ in this journal describes the affective experiences of Canadian Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) providers. A critical response to this work shows it is based on flawed premises and interpretations of its data, which centers on praising its participants in lethal injection for their very positive emotions. Their study also seems to unproblematically construct people dying by MAiD as “the other,” a term that usually describes members of groups subject to individual and systemic oppression. Contextualized, their paper can be read to show how some MAiD providers may affectively and financially benefit from providing death to, and at the expense of, their suffering patients and grieving and possibly traumatized family members and witnesses. Beuthin and Bruce’s study sheds new light on the provider side of MAiD and assists the case for vetting and setting suitability criteria for MAID clinicians.’
   
   

3. Bruce and Beuthin Response to Lyon: Oranges, apples and polarizing polemic

   
   Abstract ‘In this paper we respond to the commentary, Human misconnection? A response to Beuthin and Bruce on Medical Assistance in Dying providers’ lived experience, by C. Lyon. While spirited and respectful debate of topics of interest to society are important, we illustrate how Lyon offers a polarizing reaction to findings with which he simply does not agree. We surface how Lyon ignores the methodological context underpinning the interpretive findings of the original study. In so doing, he violates an important tenet of scholarly critique and renders his claims and motivation questionable. We argue that Lyon’s commentary is an opinion piece disguised as scholarly critique that will limit thoughtful conversation about assisted dying that might otherwise engage and generate new understandings across difference.’
   
   

4. Lyon Misrepresentation: A final response to Bruce and Beuthin on Medical Assistance in Dying
   

   Abstract ‘A final comment in this four-part exchange with A Bruce and R Beuthin addresses several inaccuracies and problematic omissions in their ‘Response to Lyon: Oranges, apples and polarizing polemic.’ I point out that court rulings mean that it is likely some form of assisted suicide or euthanasia (Medical Assistance in Dying or MAID) remains lawful in Canada, and I argue from this view. I further suggest that scholars writing about MAID clinicians’ lived experiences must be transparent about their involvement in the practice to conform to methodological and ethical standards. Finally, I stress that the intense emotional rewards obtained by providers from ending lives may be horrifying to observers and those potentially eligible for MAID, and must be open to critical scrutiny.’