Should people suffering from mental illness be eligible for medically assisted death? Canada plans to legalize that in 2027 – a philosopher explains the core questions
Should people suffering from mental illness be eligible for medically assisted death? Canada plans to legalize that in 2027 – a philosopher explains the core questions
Assessing a patient’s autonomy can be more difficult when mental illness is the main source of their suffering.
Yes. Absolutely.
Hmm... well, hard to swallow, but one can commit suicide anytime, anyway. Why, then, should the government take away an option with less pain?
It also offers an opportunity for the patient to discuss their death with an expert. This helps the patient make an informed decision on death and life.
Literally a hard-to-swallow pill.
i have complicated feelings. on one hand: yes, people deserve to be able to, but also:
how much is this just going to be used by the state to coerce people into killing themselves?
there are so many underlying factors that go into treating mental health beyond just "therapy and medication", and from what my canadian friends tell me, mental healthcare is about as bad or worse in canada as it is in the usa. it's not properly covered by standard healthcare from what i have learned, so if you are too poor to get treatment, this will probably be used to just. expunge poor people from existence.
how much is this just going to be used by the state to coerce people into killing themselves?
this has generally been the concern even under the more limited implementation Canada currently has; of course, that opens a bunch of other ethical issues that i'm not sure legislation is exactly well equipped to handle
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This would set a few precedents that are potentially pretty dangerous. As someone else mentioned, there's the issue of essentially being a potential route to pushing people toward suicide when treatment options are too expensive. But there's also the problem of mental health professionals getting on board with their patients' suicidality.
Therapists are often one of the better protections against hurting oneself when things get bad. They ostensibly should be helping you through the hard times so that when you get to a better state and you're a little more lucid you'll be glad you didn't off yourself.
But if they looked at it as a legit treatment option? Like, if I'm in the middle of a bad patch and thinking about killing myself, the last thing I need is a therapist trying to set me up with an appointment to get it done. If anything I'd want someone to be the voice of reason and try to represent the interests of all the future mes that aren't there at that moment to speak for themselves.
I've been grateful for the people who've saved my life when things looked dark. The last thing I'd want is for one of those people to help me figure out how to die.