Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Jonah Davids's avatar

I was originally in favor of a very liberal assisted suicide program, even writing on it. Seeing its actual impact here in Canada and the way it has been used has changed my mind. In theory a very conservative program with many guardrails would be good, but the logic of the state and the toxic empathy of the assisted dying community/practitioners makes this hard to achieve in practice.

Expand full comment
OrganisedPauper's avatar

Closer to home the Netherlands has assisted the suicide of people with autism and personality disorders.

Assisted dying laws multiple countries have led to the deaths of at least 60 people with eating disorders, including where assisted suicide is limited to terminal conditions only. Of these a third included young women under 30.

As for safeguards. Well we have safeguards in place for disabled adults and children and you only have to look at the news to find multiple failures and abuse. For adults with learning disabilities 42% of deaths are considered preventable.

The often touted Oregon example is actually of extreme concern if you look more deeply. When it was enacted only 28% had a psychiatric assessment, now only 1%. The number of conditions has widened. In addition to cost of care a very large percentage are being culled because they feel they are a burden. A state which is very easy to manipulate in a vulnerable person. Once the annual summary has been done all data is destroyed. There is no follow up scrutiny.

https://livinganddyingwell.org.uk/oregon-death-with-dignity-act-access-25-year-analysis/

Expand full comment
15 more comments...

No posts