A new study from the British Medical Journal has found that one in four terminally ill patients in Oregon who opt for physician-assisted suicide suffer from clinical depression:
Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law may not adequately protect the one in four terminally ill patients with clinical depression, a new study says.The Death with Dignity Act was passed by the state in 1997, and there’s been intense debate about the extent to which potentially treatable psychiatric disorders may influence a patient’s decision to hasten death, according to a news release about the study, published online Oct. 8 by the British Medical Journal.
The act does contain several safeguards to ensure patients are competent to make the decision to end their life, including referral to a psychologist or psychiatrist, if there’s concern that a mental illness may be impairing a patient’s judgment. However, depression is often overlooked in mentally ill patients . . . .
While most patients who request physician-assisted suicide do not have a depressive disorder, the study authors suggested that “the current practice of Death with Dignity Act may not adequately protect all mentally ill patients.”
