Reflections on dying patients, hospices, assisted suicide, and euthanasia

Abstract

My parents’ death struggle, my clinical work with dying patients, the euthanasia of Freud, and a fear of dementia form the background to my reflections on dying patients, hospices, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. The change in public opinion has resulted in a displacement from Nazi crimes to the present focus on the right to self-determination. Consequently, a law allowing assisted suicide or euthanasia has been adopted in several locations, such as Oregon in the USA, the Benelux countries, Switzerland, and Canada. The fear of suffering, hopelessness, and inability are strong arguments to allow euthanasia and aided suicide. A compelling case against it is its negative social consequences, the infringement into the private sphere when the sick person and their family must decide if they are willing to accept assisted suicide or euthanasia. Although the “right to death” provides freedom to some, for others it is a forced choice that interferes with the dying process. I conclude by highlighting the palliative model, wherein death is perceived as a part of an individual’s life and as a normal process, although this task is hard for the family to contain, especially when the dying person is in pain and agony. Dying is not merely an individual process. It affects the whole family as well as the future generations’ views on reciprocity and responsibility.

Key words:

• dying patients
• hospice
• assisted suicide
• euthanasia
• palliative care
• social character
• self-determination
• legalization

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christer Sjödin

Christer Sjödin, MD, is a psychoanalyst in private practice (retired), a Member of the Section of Individual Members (SIM) of the IFPS, and a Consulting Editor of the International Forum of Psychoanalysis.