ABSTRACT
Th is chapter will focus on euthanasia and AS with particular reference to mental health issues. Th ere are a small number of people for whom a sense of control is so important that they would like their life to end sooner rather than later and so request euthanasia or AS. In the UK, there is at present no legal ‘right to die’, nor any obligation or duty for others to end the life of the person who requests help to die. Indeed, aiding or encouraging another person to commit suicide is against the law. Respect for an individual’s autonomy must be balanced with the needs of many other vulnerable people who may be harmed if AS were to be legalised.1 Healthcare professionals and politicians are concerned with the potential adverse eff ects of legalisation on vulnerable groups including the mentally ill and disabled. Consequently, they have opposed changes in the current law that prohibits both euthanasia and assisted suicide in Britain. Lord Falconer in England and Margo Macdonald in Scotland have expressed their intention to present Bills in the future to legalise assisted death, so it is vital that all healthcare professionals should consider their professional role and the emotional impact of active participation in a person’s death. It is worrying to note that in Belgium, where euthanasia is legal, nurses who were involved in administering lethal drugs in about half the cases of euthanasia in institutional settings were rarely involved in the decision-making process.2
