How do you feel about physician-assisted suicide ?

It is legal where I live, with very specific guidelines; it has to be part of the person’s advance directive, but the person must be terminally ill and facing death within a relatively short amount of time.

Some people want to extend its reach to emotional or mental illnesses, like clinical depression. Occasionally I’ve seen people here express support for including such conditions.

I always want to ask them, "would you be okay if it were your child or a young person you care about who wanted a doctor to help them suicide due to depression ?"

Because I know that would break my heart and I would be trying to save my niece or my godchildren in that instance. 😭

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OlderSometimesWiser · F

In cases of physical illness, especially after experiencing the suffering of family members, I support physician-assisted suicide. Obviously under tight guidelines but it can be a blessing.

However, mental illness is a complex issue with many shades of grey. The initial questions that come to mind are 1) how can a decision that requires sound mind be put into the hands of someone who may not be of sound mind and 2) what would the guidelines be for establishing what’s considered terminal and appropriate for allowing sufferers to legally act on such a decision.

I find the idea of mentally ill young people having access to physician-assisted suicide particularly troubling. Of course there would be exceptions but overall there are just too many possibilities for improvement and too many cases where with changing circumstances, they could simply change their minds about wanting to die. There’s also every chance that advancements in medical science and increased understanding of the brain will bring about more effective treatments.

I feel this way in part because I’ve suffered with clinical depression for over 40 years and while there are days when I’d be glad to be gone, there are also days when I can find joy in living and reasons to stay alive. So the answer to the question of whether now or anywhere along the line I would have taken advantage of physician-assisted suicide remains for me unclear. Which is why I see the issue as having so many shades of grey and would be very careful about making it a legal option.