Suicide and Physician-Assisted Death for Persons With Psychiatric Disorders: How Much Overlap?

Kim et al examine psychiatric physician-assisted death in terms of the stance of the American Association of Suicidology and the societal commitment to the prevention of suicide. Physician-assisted death (PAD) of persons in which psychiatric disorders are the basis for the procedure (psychiatric PAD) remains infrequent but rising in number in Belgium and the Netherlands where it is legal, comprising about 1% to 2% of PAD. There were 83 cases in the Netherlands in 20171 (per capita US equivalent would be about 1580 cases). Canada's euthanasia law generally excludes psychiatric PAD, but there are court challenges to expand the law.