Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Psychiatry: An Overview of the Field

Euthanasia and assisted suicide on the sole basis of a mental disorder like depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, or PTSD, might well be one of society and medicine’s most significant contemporary developments. Permitted in a few countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, it is now actively debated in countries like Canada, and other countries will likely face this question in the future. Whether the practice is morally permissible remains subject to active discussion across medicine, the law, and ethics. And while the professional debate originated 30 years ago in the Netherlands, it is still in its relatively early stages: normative and empirical arguments have started to emerge mainly over the last decade, and the professional community remains highly divided. Here, I provide an in-depth appraisal of the debate. I show that the prominent argument that it is unjust—or discriminatory—to exclude mental disorders as a basis for euthanasia or assisted suicide is rhetorically compelling but lacks adequate defense. The question is therefore far from being settled. As legal landscapes around the world change rapidly, and the need for policy guidance increases, rigorous conceptual analysis is warranted to address the profound and pressing questions around the morality of this practice.