ASSISTED SUICIDE, EUTHANASIA, AND SUICIDE-PREVENTION - THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE DUTCH EXPERIENCE

What impact would legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia have on our ability to treat suicidal patients and to prevent suicide? Inf ormation from a study of the Dutch experience illustrates how legal sa nction promotes a culture that transforms suicide into assisted suicid e and euthanasia and encourages patients and doctors to see choosing d eath as a preferred way of dealing with serious or terminal illness. T he extension of the right to euthanasia to those who are not physicall y ill further complicates the problem. So too does the tendency of doc tors in such a culture to begin to feel that they can make decisions a bout ending the life of competent terminally ill patients without cons ulting the patient. ''Normalizing'' suicide as a medical option lays t he groundwork for a society that turns euthanasia into a ''cure'' for suicidal depression.