Death with Dignity – for Mental Illness?

There is controversy in Belgium about physician assisted suicide in patients with non-terminal illness.  Click here to read the New Yorker article.

“Last year, thirteen per cent of the Belgians who were euthanized did not have a terminal condition, and roughly three per cent suffered from psychiatric disorders. In Flanders, where the dominant language is Dutch, euthanasia accounts for nearly five per cent of all deaths.”  (In Washington and Oregon it is 0.2% of all deaths.) Some physicians who actively support euthanasia have concerns about “the cowboys” who push the limits on accepting patients.  They see a difference between helping patients who are actively dying, to simply helping a non-terminal patient die.  The controversial physicians feel that if a patient wants to die, then they support their autonomy.  Anything else is paternalism!  Has the slippery slope begun?