"assisted suicide" OR "aid in dying"

Slippery slope argumentation features prominently in debates over assisted suicide. The jurisdiction of Oregon features prominently too, especially as regards parliamentary scrutiny of assisted suicide proposals. This paper examines Oregon's public data (including certain official pronouncements) on assisted suicide in light of the two basic versions of the slippery slope argument, the empirical and moral-logical versions. Oregon's data evidences some normatively interesting shifts in its assisted suicide practice which in turn prompts consideration of two elements of moral-logical slippage that are not widely discussed...

BACKGROUND: Euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) requests are common in countries where they are legal. Loneliness and social isolation are modifiable risk factors for mental illness and suicidal behaviour and are common in terminal illness. Our objective was to summarise available literature to clarify whether these and related measures of social connectedness might contribute to requests for EAS. METHODS: We conducted a pre-registered (PROSPERO CRD42019160508) systematic review and narrative synthesis of quantitative literature investigating associations between social connectedness and a) requested/actual EAS, b) attitudes towards EAS, and c) a desire for hastened death (DHD) by searching six databases (PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar) from inception to November 2022, rating eligible peer-reviewed, empirical studies using the QATSO quality assessment tool...

It seems probable that some form of medically-assisted dying will become legal in England and Wales in the foreseeable future. Assisted dying Bills are at various stages of preparation in surrounding jurisdictions (Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey), and activists campaign unceasingly for a change in the law in England and Wales. There is generally uncritical supportive media coverage, and individual autonomy is seen as the unassailable trump card: 'my life, my death'.However, devising a law which is 'fit for purpose' is not an easy matter...

The practice of suicide tourism refers to the traveling of individuals to other countries to seek legally permitted assisted suicide. This study employed a descriptive qualitative research approach exploring how right-to-die organizations perceive suicide tourism and its implications on the right-to-die. Five themes emerged following the analysis of 12 in-depth interviews with activists from right-to-die organizations and 13 relevant documents: (1) unequivocal attitudes toward suicide tourism; (2) relationships between the organizations and the media; (3) acting to change the legal status of the right-to-die; (4) the role of the family in interactions between the organization and the person seeking assistance; and (5) reciprocal relations between the organizations and the physicians...

Persons with mental disorders have the same right to self-determination as patients with somatic diseases, also regarding death and dying. However, there are several challenges that render persons with mental disorders especially vulnerable to inappropriate conduct of assisted suicide: their wish to die may be a symptom of their mental disease and not an autonomous choice, decision-making competence may be compromised by their illness and more difficult to assess, the severity of suffering may be more difficult to evaluate from an external perspective, the wish to die may be more variable over time and the prognostic uncertainty in mental illness makes it more difficult to determine whether the severe suffering is, in fact, treatment-resistant...

BACKGROUND: Relatives have no formal position in the practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) according to Dutch legislation. However, research shows that physicians often involve relatives in EAS decision-making. It remains unclear why physicians do (not) want to involve relatives. Therefore, we examined how many physicians in the Netherlands involve relatives in EAS decision-making and explored reasons for (not) involving relatives and what involvement entails. METHODS: In a mixed-methods study, 746 physicians (33% response rate) completed a questionnaire, and 20 were interviewed...

While physician-assisted suicide legislation is being drafted and passed across the United States, a gray-area continues to exist in regard to the legality of a lay person's assistance with suicide. Several high-profile cases have been covered in the media, namely that of Michelle Carter in Massachusetts and William Melchert-Dinkel in Minnesota, but there is also a growing volume of anonymous pro-suicide materials online. Pro-suicide groups fly under the radar and claim to help those desiring to take their own lives...

We conducted a survey of Jewish attitudes towards, and experiences with, end-of-life care. Questions fell into three areas: (1) Expectations for Jewish end-of-life care; (2) Experiences with such care; and (3) Attitudes toward the "right to die." Examining denominational differences in belief in, and adherence to, Halakha (Jewish law), we confirm many expectations described in the literature. We find notable nuances in specific areas of need across Jewish denomination, and in terms of acceptance of the withdrawal of life support vs assisted suicide...

Euthanasia and assisted suicide, involving the intentional termination of a patient's life, are subjects of global debate influenced by cultural, ethical, and religious beliefs. This study explored the attitudes of the general public toward euthanasia, finding varying levels of support. A cross-sectional study was conducted. This research specifically evaluated the perspectives of 5804 Lithuanian residents using a survey distributed through social media, which presented medical scenarios on life-preserving interventions...

The controversy over the equivalence of continuous sedation until death (CSD) and physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia (PAS/E) provides an opportunity to focus on a significant extended use of CSD. This extension, suggested by the equivalence of PAS/E and CSD, is designed to promote additional patient autonomy at the end-of-life. Samuel LiPuma, in his article, "Continuous Sedation Until Death as Physician-Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia: A Conceptual Analysis" claims equivalence between CSD and death; his paper is seminal in the equivalency debate...

The entry into force of the Organic Law on the Regulation of Euthanasia in June 2021 obliges clinicians to reconsider their professional work, in the face of a new service that expands the limits of what was considered correct until then. This new service affects the entire healthcare system, but especially primary care professionals. Beyond the procedural and moral aspects, it is necessary to rethink the assessment of the patient who expresses a wish to die. In this review, we start with the relatively recent definition of the wish to hasten death (WTHD), its causes, epidemiology and differential diagnosis...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Euthanasia is a controversial issue related to the right to die. Although euthanasia is mostly requested by terminally sick individuals, even in societies where it is legal, it is unclear what medical conditions lead to euthanasia requests. In this scoping review, we aimed to compile medical conditions for which euthanasia has been requested or performed around the world. METHODS: The review was preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist...

Euthanasia in psychiatric patients presents unique challenges, especially when combined with organ donation. In this article, the hurdles psychiatric patients might encounter after expressing their wish for organ donation after euthanasia, are discussed and illustrated by the case of Martijn, a 45-year-old psychiatric patient who altruistically donated his organs after euthanasia. Hospital and physician-related factors, including caution in determination of mental capacity, consideration of conflicting interests, and healthcare staff stress are discussed as impediments to organ donation after euthanasia (ODE) in psychiatric patients...

BACKGROUND: The desire to die can occur in palliative care patients with a prevalence of up to 22%. Not every desire to die is accompanied by a pressure to act, but usually by a burden that can arise from various factors. To address this burden appropriately, health care workers should be trained. Based on an evaluated course on handling the desire to die, an elective course for medical students was developed and evaluated. In order to identify the impact of the elective course's content, a comparison of attitudes towards assisted dying with two other participant groups was conducted...

In 1997, when Oregon became the first U.S. jurisdiction authorizing medical aid in dying (MAID), its law included a requirement that patients be legal residents of the state. Other U.S. jurisdictions legalizing MAID followed Oregon in adopting residency requirements. Recent litigation challenges the legality, as well as the justification, for such requirements. Facing such challenges, Oregon and Vermont eliminated their MAID residency requirements. More states could follow this move, for, in certain circumstances, the U...

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the process of assisted death provision in Catalonia and identify the main tensions, difficulties, and/or sources of discomfort related to professional practice. METHOD: A qualitative study was conducted based on interviews (n=29) and focus groups (n=19) with professionals who participated in the euthanasia process. The selection of participants combined the snowball and maximization of variability procedures, taking into account the variables of professional profile, setting, gender, age and territoriality...

Can Rawlsian public reason sufficiently justify public policies that regulate or restrain controversial medical and technological interventions in bioethics (and the broader social world), such as abortion, physician aid-in-dying, CRISPER-cas9 gene editing of embryos, surrogate mothers, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of eight-cell embryos, and so on? The first part of this essay briefly explicates the central concepts that define Rawlsian political liberalism. The latter half of this essay then demonstrates how a commitment to Rawlsian public reason can ameliorate (not completely resolve) many of the policy disagreements related to bioethically controversial medical interventions today...

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Some individuals facing dementia contemplate hastening their own death: weighing the possibility of living longer with dementia against the alternative of dying sooner but avoiding the later stages of cognitive and functional impairment. This weighing resonates with an ethical and legal consensus in the United States that individuals can voluntarily choose to forgo life-sustaining interventions and also that medical professionals can support these choices even when they will result in an earlier death. For these reasons, whether and how a terminally ill individual can choose to control the timing of their death is a topic that cannot be avoided when considering the dementia trajectory...

This essay looks closely at metaphors and other figures of speech that often feature in how Americans talk about dementia, becoming part of cultural narratives: shared stories that convey ideas and values, and also worries and fears. It uses approaches from literary studies to analyze how cultural narratives about dementia may surface in conversations with family members or health care professionals. This essay also draws on research on a notable social effect of legalizing medical aid in dying: patients may find it easier to bring up a range of concerns, regardless of whether they have any interest in hastening their own death...