Citation

Gale C, Barak Y. Australas. Psychiatry 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Consultant Psychogeriatrician, Department of Psychological Medicine, Otago University Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1039856219878645

PMID

31573331

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Euthanasia has been considered unethical for most of the history of medicine. Recently it has been legalised in some countries, including parts of Australasia. We describe the recent history of euthanasia, paying attention to the extension of criteria that impact on the poor, elderly and vulnerable members of society in countries that currently have legalised this. In four of the five countries where euthanasia is legalised, there have been extensions of its criteria, either by revision of legislation or changes in practice.

CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that this dynamic can be halted by international agreements of medical societies to shun involvement in euthanasia, as has been the case with other legal interventions that stigmatise. We may, as we have in the past, need to work collectively to meet this ethical challenge.

Language: en

Keywords

ethics; euthanasia; legislation; psychiatry; stigma