SPOTLIGHT -
Medical Aid in Dying: A Slippery Slope
Once a medical aid in dying laws is passed, eligibility for assisted suicide inevitably expands, putting more patients at risk.
The Meaning of Compassion
Proponents of medical aid in dying often accuse their opponents of lacking compassion. But what does that word really mean?
Against Assisted Suicide
Should psychiatrists help patients end their own lives, even if it is technically legal?
Are Psychiatrists who Assist in Suicide Betraying Their Professional Values?
Medical aid in dying is available for psychiatric patients in European countries and Canada. Will the United States be next?
First, Do No Harm: New Canadian Law Allows for Assisted Suicide for Patients with Psychiatric Disorders
Oh, Canada! Your New Law Will Provide, Not Prevent, Suicide for Some Psychiatric Patients
Will a new Canadian law overturn long-held ethical norms in psychiatry?
Psychiatrists Must Prevent Suicide, Not Provide It
The current Tree of Medicine is rooted in its Hippocratic soil. There are moral absolutes that our profession should stand up for, in spite of legislative or popular pressure, say the authors.
PAS Versus Involuntary Commitment: Is There a Moral Dilemma?
Physician-assisted suicide violates the norms of Hippocratic medical ethics. Involuntary hospitalization to prevent suicide affirms those norms, according to the authors.
A Second Country Practicing Medical Euthanasia Drops a Bomb
A follow-up to a previous article about the ethics of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Euthanasia Versus Plagiarism: A Strange International Drama
In a week of high political stakes here in the United States, a fascinating controversy transpired in Reykjavik-with potential risks for clinicians and their patients.
An Open Letter to Representatives of the World Medical Association
More countries are “going neutral” on the issue of medical euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.
Medical Euthanasia in Canada: Current Issues and Potential Future Expansion
In this podcast, Dr Mark Komrad explores the relatively new Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) law in Canada, and how it may be on the verge of opening medical euthanasia to certain qualified psychiatric patients
A Psychiatrist Visits Belgium: The Epicenter of Psychiatric Euthanasia
A clinical psychiatrist and medical ethicist reviews some of the history, the data, the emerging reality of a remarkable slippery slope, and some profound ethical concerns raised by these practices.
APA Position on Medical Euthanasia
The APA's historic Position Statement provides guidance for psychiatrists in the face of a rapidly changing landscape of social values and expectations of medical services. Details here.
Committed: The Battle Over Involuntary Psychiatric Care
Here's a review of a book about involuntary psychiatric commitment-- a major source of controversy when the public tries to understand who psychiatrists are and what we do.
Psychiatric Ethics and Cultural Sensitivity
When a psychiatrist evaluates a patient, there is much to be valued in trying to adopt the patient’s internal perspective of cultural mores and world views. But what are the limits to cultural sensitivity?
The New CPT Codes: Ethical Challenges in a New Billing Era?
This article focuses on 2 ethical issues that the new CPT coding raises to higher stakes: the increased potential for conflict of interest in billing and the erosion of confidentiality.