Adrian Byram is the co-author of a recent study comparing the rates of medically assisted deaths in Canada and California. While both jurisdictions legalized MAID in the same year and have similar population sizes, Canada has far more assisted deaths. Why is this? In this interview, we go through the surprising results of the study. We also discuss Adrian’s work on the ethics of advance directives, how technology might help with substitute decision making, and next steps for assisted dying in California.Adrian is director of End of Life Choices California. He has a PhD in neuroethics from the University of British Columbia. Prior to that, he was a senior executive in the IT industry.

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In Undoing Suicidism: A Trans, Queer, Crip Approach to Rethinking (Assisted) Suicide, Alexandre Baril argues that the way we treat suicidal people is a form of discrimination and oppression. The current approach is also failing to prevent suicides. In this interview, we talk about the approach he advocates for in his book and how adopting it would change suicide prevention, medical assistance in dying, and the healthcare system.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit valuejudgments.substack.com

Values Judgments the podcast is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and the Substack app. Please subscribe!

Jeremy Davis is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Georgia. You can sign up for his newsletter here: www.jermtheory.substack.com.

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Value Judgments the podcast is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and the Substack app. Subscribe! In this episode, Wayne Sumner describes an old-time killing and why the punishment didn’t fit the crime.

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Values Judgments the podcast is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and the Substack app. Subscribe!

In 2016, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism published the results of a study on male birth control. In the study, participants were given injections of testosterone and progestogen, then had their sperm levels measured. As the research neared its end, an external review committee shut it down. This detail was picked up by media around the world, and almost all the coverage said the study was stopped because participants couldn’t handle the side effects of the drugs, which happened to be similar to the ones women experience on the pill. But that’s not what happened. The real story raises bigger questions about when trials should be stopped, and who should get to decide.

Quick Hits

* On Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending the premiere of In My Own Time, a documentary on medical assistance in dying made by Ward 1 Studios and Dying with Dignity Canada. It beautifully portrays the power of people having control over the timing of their deaths, and the ways families, healthcare providers, lawyers, ethicists, and others make it possible. There are upcoming screenings in other Canadian cities (see here), then it will be available online. Go see it!

* Patrick Butler has a story for the CBC about limited abortion access in a region of Newfoundland known as ‘the Bible Belt’. In many parts of Canada, people have to travel hundreds of kilometres to have an abortion. This article describes what that means.

* Rick Rubin’s interview with John Mayer on Rubin’s podcast Tetragrammaton is the best interview I’ve heard in a long time. I particularly recommend the second half, where they both get so excited about songwriting that they’re finishing each other’s sentences, then Mayer starts writing a song. I know of no one who uses such descriptive metaphors when speaking as John Mayer does.

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Canadian Blood Services manages the blood supply in all provinces except Québec. Last year, it partnered with a company to begin paying people for blood plasma. In this episode, I speak with Peter Jaworski, Associate Teaching Professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, about the ethics of paying for blood plasma. Few people know this topic as well as he does. Most recently, he’s the author of “Bloody Well Pay Them: The Case for Voluntary Remunerated Plasma Collections.”

https://www.niskanencenter.org/bloody-well-pay-them-the-case-for-voluntary-remunerated-plasma-collections/

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The problems with Canadian healthcare, especially its long wait times and access issues, have become increasingly urgent. In this episode, I speak to Rosalie Wyonch, senior policy analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute, about how we ended up in this situation and how we should get out of it. Her research has revealed some surprising findings about barriers to care.

Quick Hits

Here are some other stories that caught my attention this week:

* This is a beautiful story about a couple that decided to have medically assisted deaths at the same time.

* An Angus Reid poll that was released today found that support for MAID access for people whose sole condition is mental illness is higher among people who recently sought mental healthcare and encountered barriers to access.

* The latest episode of What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law is not to be missed. If you don’t know about the history of margarine laws in the U.S., you’re in for a treat.

Value Judgments is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit valuejudgments.substack.com

The episode of Open Questions where parts of this interview first appeared is here: https://soundcloud.com/user-480390211/what-can-money-buy?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit valuejudgments.substack.com