Assessing public's attitudes towards euthanasia and assisted suicide of persons with dementia based on their advance request: an experimental survey of US public

Euthanasia and/or assisted suicide (EAS) is currently permitted in a small number of jurisdictions, with some allowing EAS in non-terminally ill patients such as persons with dementia.1 Although U.S. jurisdictions that allow EAS currently require patients to be terminally ill, expanding the practice to include patients with dementia is increasingly discussed in news articles,2-4 medical journals,5 and state legislatures.6 Expanding the practice to persons with dementia compounds the controversy over EAS because progressive cognitive decline and the inevitable loss of decision-making capacity inescapably lead to debates about using advance euthanasia directives (AEDs) that specify future circumstances in which patients would receive EAS when they are no longer competent.
Source: The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry - Category: Geriatrics Authors: Tags: Regular Research Article Source Type: research