@article{ref1,
title="Older people's discourses about euthanasia and assisted suicide: a Foucauldian exploration",
journal="Gerontologist",
year="2015",
author="Lamers, Carolien P. T. and Williams, Rebecca R.",
volume="56",
number="6",
pages="1072-1081",
abstract="PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: This study aims to contribute an alternative understanding of the position of older people in the euthanasia and assisted suicide (EU/AS) debate. DESIGN AND METHODS: Seven interviews were analyzed using Foucauldian discourse analysis, to explore concepts like knowledge, power, subjectification and surveillance. <br><br>RESULTS: The participants presented a &quot;confused and conflicted&quot; discourse, expressing the view that EU/AS is a family affair, whilst also articulating a strong sense of self-determination. Although a discourse of the medicalization of dying through medical control and surveillance was endorsed, an alternative discourse of &quot;dying outside the medical gaze&quot; emerged. Participants, who were in favor of EU/AS, felt &quot;voiceless,&quot; as apparent double standards were applied in the debate, and powerful others, for example, physicians and politicians, seemed reluctant to engage. Within an &quot;aged death&quot; discourse, the anticipated dependency on poor care from (professional) others, made participants consider EU/AS as ways of avoiding this stage of life and the associated loss of dignity. IMPLICATIONS: By using Foucauldian discourse analysis, alternative power relationships were revealed which might give a different interpretation to the concept of the &quot;slippery slope.&quot; Societal discourses and related behaviors, which devalue the dependent and old, might become internalized by older people, leading them to consider EU/AS as preferable end-of-life options.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0016-9013",
doi="10.1093/geront/gnv102",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnv102"
}