Tag: euthanasia

Assisted Death for Psychiatric Suffering: Approaching Uncertainty with Humility

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

by Zain Khalid

On May 22 this year, Zoraya Ter Beek, a 29-year-old woman from Netherlands, died by euthanasia on grounds of mental suffering. Zoraya had been diagnosed with chronic depression, borderline personality disorder, and autism and had struggled with self-harm and suicidal thinking for several year. She had tried numerous treatments, including 30 sessions of electroconvulsive therapy, until, as she reported her psychiatrist told her, “There’s nothing more we can do for you. It’s never going to get any better.”

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Extending the Right to Die to Mature Minors in Canada

Gali Katznelson Leave a comment

By Gali Katznelson

Until February 2016, medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada, which encompasses both euthanasia and physician assisted suicide, was prohibited under the criminal code as a form of homicide. This ruling was challenged in Carter v Canada in the Supreme Court and overturned on the grounds that the ruling opposed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In June 2016, MAID became legal in Canada under Bill C-14.

Under this law, a person may receive medical assistance in dying if they meet all of the following criteria:

  • They are eligible for health services funded by a government in Canada
  • They have a grievous and irremediable medical condition. This includes an irreversible state of decline that causes intolerable suffering that cannot be relieved, with a reasonably foreseeable natural death
  • They have made a voluntary request for medical assistance in dying that was not made as a result of external pressure
  • They give informed consent to receive medical assistance in dying after having been informed of other means that are available to relieve their suffering, including palliative care
  • They are at least 18 years of age and capable of making decisions with respect to their health

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American Psychiatric Association Releases Formal Position Statement on Euthanasia

wendysalkin Leave a comment

By Wendy S. Salkin

End of Life Care, NIH
Image Source: NIH Consensus Development Project

Last month, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) released a position statement on medical euthanasia. The statement, approved by the APA Assembly in November and approved by the Board of Trustees in December, states:

The American Psychiatric Association, in concert with the American Medical Association’s position on medical euthanasia, holds that a psychiatrist should not prescribe or administer any intervention to a non-terminally ill person for the purpose of causing death.

According to the APA Operations Manual, APA position statements “provide the basis for statements made on behalf of the APA before government bodies and agencies and communicated to the media and the general public.”

For those who are wondering, What’s the American Medical Association’s [AMA] position on medical euthanasia?, here is your answer: From Section 8 of Chapter 5 (“Opinions on Caring for Patients at the End of Life”) of the AMA Code of Ethics: Read More