In the early years, euthanasia for psychological suffering was rare but in the past few years it is sky rocketing.
By Alex Schadenberg
Life News
Canada legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide in June 2016 under the term: Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).
In December 2016, the federal government announced that the Council of Canadian Academies would research and provide recommendations concerning the expansion of euthanasia in three areas: mature minors, people who are incompetent but previously requested MAiD and euthanasia for psychological suffering alone. This article concerns the last group.
The Netherlands and Belgium legalized euthanasia in 2002. The legislation in both of these countries technically allowed euthanasia for “psychological suffering.” In the early years, euthanasia for psychological suffering was rare but in the past few years it is sky rocketing.
A commentary by Dr. Damiaan Denys, the President of the Dutch Society of Psychiatrists, was published in The American Journal of Psychiatry (September 2018) titled: Is Euthanasia Psychiatric Treatment?
Denys commentary is based on a 42-year-old married woman who requested euthanasia for psychiatric reasons while receiving treatment from his team. The Psychiatric team disapproved of her euthanasia death because treatment options existed but the woman died by euthanasia anyway. Denys wrote:
Although we had treated her intensively for 2 years, our advice was disregarded. Eight weeks later we received the obituary of the patient.
Denys outlines the problems with psychiatric euthanasia based on experience in the Netherlands. He wrote:
…whether euthanasia is an option for psychiatric patients, there are medical and ethical dilemmas related to the practical process of decision making and execution.
- How can we reconcile the daily practice of reducing suicidal ideas and behaviors in patients with respecting a death wish in single cases?
- How can we distinguish between symptoms and existential needs?
- How can we decide whether a psychiatrist is sufficiently autonomous to judge euthanasia?
- Does the fragile therapeutic relationship between psychiatrist and patient not bias judgment?
- How are differences in opinion between psychiatrist and patient resolved?
Although psychiatrists are not legally obliged to approve or execute euthanasia, neither can they interfere once a request is granted by a third party, as illustrated in the aforementioned case.
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