Putting Medical Assistance in Dying to the Acid Test

Abstract

The term "medical assistance in dying" originated in the Canadian law and is increasingly being used outside of Canada to encompass different practices such as euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, or supporting persons during voluntary stopping eating and drinking (VSED). In euthanasia, which is only legal in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, the physician administers the drug; in assisted suicide or physician-assisted dying, physicians prescribe the lethal drug, which the persons willing to die then take by themselves; and in VSED, persons with preserved decision-making capacity who still have the physical ability to eat and drink consciously refuse foods and fluids to advance the time of their death.The legality of these different forms of medical assistance in dying vary considerably between countries and states, and there is also broad variation in the extent and specific characteristics of those who die an assisted death. Medical assistance in dying touches on existential questions, basic values and worldviews about human rights, life and death, personal autonomy, care for and protection of vulnerable persons, and solidarity. The topic is increasingly becoming relevant regarding the care and self-determination of the aged population. "To date, scholarly discourse on [medical assistance in dying] has been dominated by issues such as decision-making capacity, uncertainty as to when a disease is incurable, stigmatization, isolation, and loneliness" (Stoll et al., 2021, p. 1).This special provides a platform for empirical and empirically substantiated conceptual articles to discuss different forms of medical assistance in dying from an international and interdisciplinary perspective and to put crucial aspects to the acid test.The special issue includes five articles. In their contribution, Laura Winkler and Charlotte Wetterauer focus on assisted suicide as a controversially discussed topic in medical ethics, particularly when it comes to patients with mental disorders. The authors provide a clinical case regarding a