This episode discusses Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), suicide, disability, chronic illness, and end-of-life decision-making. Please listen with care.
If you need support, call or text 988 in the United States or 9-8-8 in Canada (24/7).
Outside the United States and Canada, contact your local crisis line, healthcare provider, or emergency service.
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call your local emergency number.
About the episode:
What can Sophia's story teach us about disability, housing, healthcare, and Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)?
This episode features two conversations: one with disability ethicist Heidi Janz, PhD, and another with a Toronto woman living with severe MCS who was friends with Sophia, a woman whose 2022 MAiD death brought international attention to the challenges many people with disabilities and chronic illnesses face.
Together, they explore disability rights, healthcare, housing, social support, and the broader questions Sophia's case continues to raise.
Professor Janz participated in this interview with the assistance of a support person who repeats her words for listeners.
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Professor Heidi Janz:
2025 paper - "First they came for the Physical Crips: The Eugenic Logic Driving MAiD."
https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/bioethics/2025-v8-n4-bioethics010388/1121337ar.pdf
Faculty profile:
https://www.ualberta.ca/en/john-dossetor-health-ethics-centre/about/people/adjunctmembers/heidijanz.html
#MCS #MultipleChemicalSensitivity #DisabilityRights #MAiD
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