The need to exercise caution in accepting addiction as a reason for performing euthanasia
Abstract
The recent practice in Belgium and the Netherlands of accepting addiction as a reason for performing euthanasia raises important issues for the field of addiction and the practice of euthanasia. In this paper we outline some of these issues. We also argue that physicians making decisions about whether to accept requests for euthanasia from people with an allegedly untreatable addiction should consider two issues carefully. They should ensure that: (1) the person has the capacity to give free and informed consent to undergo euthanasia; and (2) their request is the outcome of a deliberative process in which all reasonable treatment options and harm reduction measures have been offered to and considered by the person.
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Neurobiologic advances from the brain disease model of addiction
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Should assisted dying for psychiatric disorders be legalized in Canada?
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Physician-assisted death does not violate professional integrity
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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
“…authors are concerned that requests for MAiD-MD can be influenced by the mental disorder and that the desire to die can be a symptom of the disorder, or that the request for MAiD-MD can stem from external pressure [6, 41, 45], which would invalidate the voluntary nature of the request [56, 80].”
Background
- Authors
- Hall, W., & Parker, M.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Hall, Wayne
- Venue
- Addiction
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-10-10
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1178-1180
- ISSN
- 0965-2140 (ISSN-L)
- 1360-0443
- OpenAlex
- W2763435546
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 1.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Addiction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- 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 Care and End-of-Life Issues
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
- Keywords
- euthanasia, physician-assisted death, informed consent, decision-making capacity, harm reduction, treatment options, end-of-life decisions, Belgium, Netherlands
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Informed Consent, Netherlands, Mental Competency, Suicide, Assisted, Substance-Related Disorders, Euthanasia, Active, Voluntary
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