Published 11 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2477
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2477

Letters

Depression and assisted dying

Depression in terminal illness

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The article from Oregon raises questions about the relevance of depression in those who are dying.1 It is perhaps not surprising that anyone facing death might be depressed. One might almost say it is normal. But depression is not a psychotic disorder, and there is no reason to assume that a depressed person is not rational and therefore perfectly capable of making an informed decision about assisted suicide.

Those who are so anxious to identify depression will presumably also wish to treat it. This raises questions of patient autonomy since the patient has probably not complained of depression and may therefore not wish to be treated. In any case, treatment takes time, and may produce side effects if drugs are used. Is this really appropriate in a dying patient, who does not have much time?

And what exactly is the point of treatment? Is it to make sure that the . . . [Full text of this article]

Lesley A M Evans, retired consultant geriatrician1

1 Porlock, Somerset TA24 8HD

les3doc@aol.com


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Relevant Article

Prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients requesting physicians’ aid in dying: cross sectional survey
Linda Ganzini, Elizabeth R Goy, and Steven K Dobscha
BMJ 2008 337: a1682. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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