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.
!!! That will teach me not to follow links, won't it? Thank you for looking through the report and pulling this out. That really is horrifying, especially since under Oregon law people who want to commit suicide are supposed to be certified as "nondepressed." (Don't ask me how one would make that determination about a suicidal person, because I don't know. But apparently oncologists and other nonpsych medical doctors don't have a problem doing it.)
I also notice that although the objections to my position here have focused on untreatable neuropsychiatric symptoms which make it impossible for someone to benefit from efforts to improve their quality of life, an overwhelming majority of assisted suicides in Oregon appear to be attributable to demoralization. The reasons given are the ones that Dr. Kissane found could be alleviated by psychotherapy, and the ones I argue are associated with ablism and poor standards of care.
I suspect that a person with overwhelming untreatable neuropsychiatric symptoms is not actually eligible to commit suicide in Oregon due to their impaired ability to consent.
no subject
!!! That will teach me not to follow links, won't it? Thank you for looking through the report and pulling this out. That really is horrifying, especially since under Oregon law people who want to commit suicide are supposed to be certified as "nondepressed." (Don't ask me how one would make that determination about a suicidal person, because I don't know. But apparently oncologists and other nonpsych medical doctors don't have a problem doing it.)
I also notice that although the objections to my position here have focused on untreatable neuropsychiatric symptoms which make it impossible for someone to benefit from efforts to improve their quality of life, an overwhelming majority of assisted suicides in Oregon appear to be attributable to demoralization. The reasons given are the ones that Dr. Kissane found could be alleviated by psychotherapy, and the ones I argue are associated with ablism and poor standards of care.
I suspect that a person with overwhelming untreatable neuropsychiatric symptoms is not actually eligible to commit suicide in Oregon due to their impaired ability to consent.