There Are Ways to Die With Dignity, but Not Like This

May 12, 2025

fall leaves in a water

(New York Times) – The New York bill defines “aid in dying” as a medical practice. If a patient qualifies, a doctor can prescribe a lethal dose of drugs that the patient may self-administer to end his or her life. Labeling this a medical practice confers a kind of legitimacy on what is also called, more accurately, physician-assisted suicide.

When it comes to conventional suicide, it’s no secret that people who suffer from depression are at greater risk. There is no reason to think that depression is any less of a factor when it comes to physician-assisted suicide. Yet the New York bill, which is modeled on the Death With Dignity law enacted in Oregon in 1997, does not even require a mental health professional to screen patients for depression unless one of the doctors involved determines that the patient’s judgment may be impaired by a psychiatric or psychological disorder. (Read More)