Assisted Suicide Study Questions Its Use for Mentally Ill by Benedict Carey

Carey, Benedict. “Assisted Suicide Study Questions Its Use for Mentally Ill” The New York Times, 10 February 2016.

In this newspaper article by Benedict Carey, a former science reporter for The Times and a health and medical writer for The Los Angeles Times, a freelance journalist, and a staff writer for Heath Magazine, he begins by explaining how assisted suicide for those with psychological disorders is becoming something talked about more and more. At least three countries — Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland — allow assisted dying for those suffering mentally and places such as Canada are debating whether to take that step. Carey goes to on explain cases of patients who had different types of mental disorders that coexist with each other, and they described living with the disorder.

– “The depression was often mixed with other problems, like substance abuse, mild dementia or physical pain. More than half had received a diagnosis of a personality disorder, like avoidant or dependent personality, which are typically bound up with relationship problems. The group also included people with diagnoses of eating disorders and autism spectrum conditions. Many reported being intensely lonely” (Carey).

– “A team of doctors…reported that most people who sought doctor-assisted death for psychiatric problems had depression, personality disorders or both” (Carey).