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Value‐based issues and policy change: Medical assistance in dying in four narratives
Author(s) -
Burlone Nathalie
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12587
Subject(s) - framing (construction) , narrative , hypocrisy , newspaper , accountability , political science , sociology , value (mathematics) , public administration , law , history , art , literature , archaeology , machine learning , computer science
Abstract In 2014, Québec became the first province in Canada to allow medical assistance in dying (MAID) by adopting the Act Respecting End‐of‐Life Care. This was, and still is, an important policy change. It involves a singular and highly moral issue that generated debates spanning over a longer period than that specific to the law's development and adoption. Using French and English newspapers' renderings of these debates in Québec between 2005 and 2015, this study deconstructs MAID's journey in the province into four periods, each characterized by a specific narrative: flexible precaution, legal hypocrisy, accountability imperative, and ineluctable adaptation. These four narratives allow us to better understand MAID's framing process as they reveal the underlying rationales of three overarching frames covering the 2005–2015 period: the legal frame, the social progress frame, and the service provision frame.