‘Medical Aid In Dying’ Is a Far Better Term Than ‘Death With Dignity’

Medical terms shouldn’t come with baked-in value judgments or political statements, which in this case implied that a natural death is intrinsically undignified.

This weekend, I listened to a fascinating and moving dialogue on “The Interview” podcast in which New York Times journalist David Marchese interviewed a Canadian physician who provides what these days is known as medical aid in dying, or MAID. Currently legal in 10 U.S. states and Washington, DC, MAID provides certain terminally ill people with the option of a physician-assisted end to their life, when they choose and on their terms.

I have been personally relieved to see that the term for this medical option, provided to those who have run out of all others, has been revised from the formerly popular “death with dignity.” As a medical journalist, I invariably chafe at medical terms that compel people to express a value judgment or take a political stand. That particular slogan always unnerved and frankly offended me with its loaded presumptuousness about what makes for a dignified death.

How we characterize death for the terminally ill is particularly personal to me, not just as someon…