(Undark) – The Netherlands allows medically assisted euthanasia for extreme mental suffering. Some doctors question the guardrails.

In recent years, Dutch psychiatrists have seen a steep upswing in requests for medical assistance in dying, or MAID, on psychiatric grounds, rising from an average of about 30 per year from 2012 to 2018 to 895 in 2023 — though some research suggests those numbers are likely an undercount. (Just a fraction of these requests were granted and pursued.) Some clinicians are concerned about the number of young people seeking the procedure, and want to put more guardrails in place, like a higher age requirement. Others, meanwhile, are calling for fewer barriers, arguing that euthanasia is the most humane approach when a patient is experiencing treatment-resistant mental anguish. And others are calling for balance — not for an age limit, but for more rigorous criteria for younger patients. (Read More)