Medical assistance in dying: just an ethical or legal issue?
Recenti Prog Med
; 111(5): 316-326, 2020 05.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32448882
ABSTRACT
According to current vital statistics suicide appears as a growing public health problem in most Western countries. However, suicide is rarely discussed in scientific journals, possibly because of a persisting moral stigma. As a consequence, the diverse bases of suicidal behavior are little understood while the role of Chronic-Degenerative Terminal Diseases (CDTD) has been poorly investigated. In the present study, the topic of suicidality was addressed in a clinical, holistic, perspective in an attempt to clarify how, in some chronically ill patients, the decision to end their own life is taken independently from mental disorders, being conversely, the expression of a rational psychological pattern which copes with the burden of chronic illnesses to become an integral part of their clinical spectrum. An assisted suicide (AS) request should therefore be considered from a clinical point of view and not only as an ethical or legal issue, in fact a holistic evaluation of the patient's situation must be performed, conferring the decisions making process a further in-depth line of thinking. In this study we first examined the relationship between suicide and CDTD as reported in the medical literature; then we reviewed the psychological theories which allegedly explain suicidal behavior; finally we discussed the possible role of a full-fledged palliative care in preventing suicide and in managing death requests by CDTD patients.
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Euthanasia
/
Suicide, Assisted
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
Recenti Prog Med
Year:
2020
Type:
Article