Euthanasia and Mental Suffering: An Ethical Advice for Catholic Mental Health Services
Open accessAbstract
The present ethical advice tackles the question as to how caregivers in a Catholic mental health service can take care of psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia because of their unbearable mental suffering. The question arises because the Belgian act on euthanasia allows euthanasia under certain conditions, while the Roman Catholic Church forbids euthanasia in all circumstances. The ethical advice is based on the assessment of fundamental values: the inviolability of life, the patient’s autonomy, and the care relationship between caregivers and patient. To integrate these values, caregivers should in a timely fashion make clear that life is inviolable, attentively respect the patient’s autonomy, and provide the best possible care relationship, including counseling for existential questions. If the request for euthanasia persists, the only sensible option is to refer the patient to another physician, guaranteeing the continuity of the care relationship. In the tension between the inviolability of life and the patient’s autonomy, the care relationship is the binding value.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
(2007) · Tilburg foreign law review · doi:10.1163/221125907x00524 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Facing requests for euthanasia: a clinical practice guideline
Gastmans, C., Neste, F. V., & Schotsmans, P. T. (2004) · Journal of Medical Ethics · doi:10.1136/jme.2003.005082 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Ethical dilemmas in community mental health care
Liégeois, A., & Audenhove, C. V. (2005) · Journal of Medical Ethics · doi:10.1136/jme.2003.006999 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Euthanasia in the Low Countries: comparative reflections on the Belgian and Dutch Euthanasia Act
Adams, M., & Nys, H. (2005) · DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Euthanasia in the Low Countries
Meulenbergs, T., & Schotsmans, P. T. (2002) · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Churches in the Low Countries on euthanasia. Background, argumentation and commentary
Jans, J. M. N. E., Schotsmans, P. T., & Meulenbergs, T. (2005) · Research portal (Tilburg University) · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Demedts, D., Roelands, M., Libbrecht, J., & Bilsen, J. (2018) · Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing · doi:10.1111/jpm.12475 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Medical assistance in dying for people living with mental disorders: a qualitative thematic review
Favron-Godbout, C., & Racine, E. (2023) · BMC Medical Ethics · doi:10.1186/s12910-023-00971-4 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“It is essential to cultivate the therapeutic relationship, to maintain open communication, and to offer support to address existential questions [70].”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Liegeois, A.
- Venue
- Christian Bioethics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2013-04-01
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 72-81
- ISSN
- 1380-3603 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-4195
- OpenAlex
- W2139127237
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 0.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- lirias.kuleuven.be
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Christian bioethics Non-Ecumenical Studies in Medical Morality (publishedVersion)
- Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Ethics and bioethics in healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues
- Keywords
- euthanasia, psychological suffering, psychiatric patients, inviolability of life, patient autonomy, care relationships, existential counseling, Belgian euthanasia law, Catholic Church, physician referral, continuity of care
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
