Death With Dignity and Suicide Compared

• Published in: The American journal of geriatric psychiatry 2022-02, Vol.30 (2), p.221-222
• Main Authors: Beekman, Aartjan T.F., van Veen, Sisco M.P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Assisted suicide; Humans; Older people; Physicians; Right to Die; Suicide - prevention & control; Suicide, Assisted; Suicides & suicide attempts; Women
• ISSN: 1064-7481; 1545-7214
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2021.07.019

The debate about physician-assisted death (PAD) is as old as medicine itself.1 The Death With Dignity Act (DWDA), that became active in Oregon in 1997, was the first of such acts legalizing Physician Assisted Death in the US. This was before several countries in Europe, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa passed similar acts. In this issue, Canetto and Mcintosh examine the effect of this legislation on causes of death among older men and women in Oregon.2 They specifically compared deaths under DWDA and suicide, arguing that these are both forms of self-initiated death and that men and women may differ in their choices when legislation permits this. An underlying concern of the authors is that there may be groups of people who are vulnerable to being pressured into requesting PAD because of social prejudice, feeling unworthy of care, being a burden or otherwise. For several reasons, described well by the authors, this may concern primarily older women.