The first page shows a graph of patients who received lethal prescriptions and those that actually took them. What this tells me is that many people wanted to retain the option of suicide, not that all wanted to die.
Your conclusion might be right. But another possibility (from this data) is that at some point after receiving the lethal prescription, the patients changed their minds. I think one of the difficult things about debating this issue is that, in trying to come to a thoughtful and rational decision, we have to make assumptions. We tend to imagine a person would feel X, without appreciating that thoughts and feelings change.
It's troubling to me that none of the 59 patients who died in 2009 by taking their lethal doses were referred to psychological treatment. I find it hard to say society did right by these folks by making it acceptable for them to kill themselves, but unnecessary to help them through the mentally and emotionally difficult decision to end their lives.
no subject
Your conclusion might be right. But another possibility (from this data) is that at some point after receiving the lethal prescription, the patients changed their minds. I think one of the difficult things about debating this issue is that, in trying to come to a thoughtful and rational decision, we have to make assumptions. We tend to imagine a person would feel X, without appreciating that thoughts and feelings change.
It's troubling to me that none of the 59 patients who died in 2009 by taking their lethal doses were referred to psychological treatment. I find it hard to say society did right by these folks by making it acceptable for them to kill themselves, but unnecessary to help them through the mentally and emotionally difficult decision to end their lives.