End-of-Life Narratives of Patients who Request Medical Assistance in Dying: A Qualitative Study Protocol Vallès-Poch, Mar Delgado Rodríguez, Janet Martínez López, María Victoria Tamayo Velázquez, María Isabel Rodríguez Arias Vailhen, David Medical assistance in dying Euthanasia Assisted suicide Personal narrative Qualitative research Hermeneutic phenomenology The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work has been developed in the framework of the following research projects: INEDYTO (code PID2020-118729RB-I00), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and «Narrativas de pacientes que solicitan la ayuda para morir» (code BEC-2022-019), funded by Fundació Grífols de Bioètica. Iris Parra Jounou thanks the funding of the Spanish Research Agency (code PID2019-105422GB-I00). Many groups (healthcare professionals, lawyers, philosophers, non-governmental organisations, bioethics committees, journalists, religious groups, etc.) participate in the bioethical debate about medical assistance in dying (MAiD). Bioethics literature on the topic involve different approaches (analytic, empirical, policy oriented, activist) and various normative perspectives (discourses based on deontological premises as the sanctity of life and human dignity, or on utilitarianism, libertarianism, etc.), some of which are at times irreconcilable. Regarding empirical studies, some voices (e.g., healthcare professionals) have been widely considered but the voice of people who request MAiD has been neglected. Understanding the personal and medical circumstances that lead to MAiD, which can only be achieved by listening to the phenomenological discourse of those involved, is key. This study aims to provide knowledge from the testimonies and experiences of patients who have initiated a MAiD request. We believe this research protocol can increase our understanding of a social and academic controversy that lacks important information to be complete. By doing so, this type of research could inform and improve end-of-life public policies, and particularly the health care of individuals who request a MAiD. We propose a qualitative phenomenological study using semi-structured interviews of people in the process of requesting MAiD, as outlined in the Ley Organica 3/2021, de regulacion de la eutanasia (LORE), the Spanish Law on the Regulation of Euthanasia. The study is conducted nationally using a convenience sampling. The number of interviews is determined sequentially and cumulatively, depending on the richness of the narratives and the saturation of the information that has been collected. For the purposes of analysis, the interviews are transcribed verbatim and pseudonymised afterwards. Data analysis is conducted at the same time as data collection. The proposed study has received a favourable report from the Coordinating Committee on Biomedical Research Ethics of Andalusia (CCEIBA). 2023-10-27T07:53:20Z 2023-10-27T07:53:20Z 2023-09 journal article Vallès-Poch et al. End-of-Life Narratives of Patients who Request Medical Assistance in Dying: A Qualitative Study Protocol. International Journal of Qualitative Methods Volume 22: 1–8. [DOI: 10.1177/16094069231202196] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/85291 10.1177/16094069231202196 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ open access Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional SAGE