Treatment-resistant major depressive disorder and assisted dying.
Competent patients suffering from treatment-resistant depressive disorder should be treated no different in the context of assisted dying to other patients suffering from chronic conditions that render their lives permanently not worth living to them. Jurisdictions that are considering, or that have, decriminalised assisted dying are discriminating unfairly against patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression if they exclude such patients from the class of citizens entitled to receive assistance in dying.
Department of Philosophy, Queens University, Ontario, Canada.
Udo
U
Schuklenk
AMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Suzanne
S
van de Vathorst
D002170:Canada; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D061218:Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant / Q000523:psychology*; D005065:Euthanasia / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D016743:Mental Competency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D009426:Netherlands; D010344:Patient Advocacy / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D010819:Physician's Role; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*
Euthanasia; Mentally Ill and Disabled Persons; Psychiatry; Suicide/Assisted Suicide