Medical Assistance in Dying Laws and the Therapeutic Relevance of Hope in the Mental Health Context

Thomas Blikshavn, Tonje Lossius Husum, and Morten Magelssen, Four Reasons Why Assisted Dying Should Not Be Offered for Depression,14 J. of Bioeth. Inq. 151-157 (2017). Trudo Lemmens Most jurisdictions that have legalized some form of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAD), the term now in vogue that includes Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) and Euthanasia, have done so only for those who are terminally ill or more broadly, close to dying a natural death. In the few jurisdictions that provide broader access, including for mental illness, in particular Belgium and the Netherlands, the growth of the ‘psychiatric euthanasia’ practice in the last five years has faced particular controversy. Yet, some bioethicists and health law scholars argue that other jurisdictions, including in the US and Canada, should follow their example. They tend to build their argument around paradigm cases of patients with “treatment-resistant depression” (TRD), for which,…

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