Is there a right time to die? How patients, families and assisted dying providers decide on and anticipate a date with death

Abstract

Research has explored why people seek assisted dying (AD), families’ bereavement, and AD providers’ experiences, yet few studies have investigated decision-making of the time and date for AD. This article elucidates how cancer patients, families and AD providers decide on and experience living with a date and time for AD in New Zealand. We longitudinally interviewed 23 people. Using thematic analysis, we identified four decision-making phases: deciding how and when to draw a line in the sand, the final countdown, a date with death and the right time. Picking a date was an embodied, relational, situational decision that balanced time left, families’ wishes, providers’ needs, and AD regulations. Time is a silent factor in AD decision-making; choosing a date reorients time to clock, event and embodied time, and contrives the right time for death. We discuss the implications and recommend how AD providers and policymakers can support service users and providers.