Euthanasia and assisted suicide: legal and ethical aspects and ethical principles in mental health care

Euthanasia and assisted suicide – Legal and ethical aspects and Ethical principles in mental health care of immigrant and minority patients

While euthanasia is legal in Benelux, Canada, Colombia, and Victoria, only PAS is legal in the United States. Switzerland is the only nation where the law allows for assisted suicide without the explicit aid of physicians.  Laws legalizing euthanasia and PAS have similar themes in their guidelines, though the specificities vary between regions. For example, the individual often needs to be an adult of at least 18 years of age, with exceptions in Belgium, Colombia, and the Netherlands where persons younger than 18 are eligible. To ensure that the individual is acting by their own free will, safeguards include multiple written or oral requests, which may require the co-signing of a witness who would not benefit from the death of the person requesting euthanasia or PAS.

Ethical issues about euthanasia and PAS will be discussed in psychiatric patients, as well as patients with terminal somatic diseases who present symptoms of mental health disorders (e.g., depression).

The second topic is on how culturally nuanced practice of medicine facilitates wider access to care, a more welcoming “patient experience,” more effective health care delivery, thus advancing the overarching goal of delivering more of the benefits of mental health care to greater numbers of people. Ethical dilemmas may arise because of differences between a clinician’s personal values and beliefs and those of the patient, even when both individuals have the same cultural background. In this course ethical principles in mental health care of immigrant and minority patients will be discussed with the participants.

Course Director:  Meryam Schouler-Ocak, Germany