The Psychiatric Cost of Dying with Dignity

What are the clinical consequences of rationalizing suicide?

The swiss suicide pod: “Sarco” capsule

In 2024, the Netherlands reported a record 219 people killed through state-sanctioned euthanasia for psychological suffering—mostly depression—marking a 60% increase from the year before. In Switzerland, where “self-determined death” is practically a civic virtue, over 1,200 people ended their lives with the help of assisted suicide groups in 2023. This same year, Canada caught up by providing medically assisted death (MAiD) to 15,343 patients. However, they just postponed the expansion of MAiD to people with mental illness until 2027, after widespread backlash. Perhaps fuelled by the unsettling frequency of stories involving patients being offered MAiD against their wishes.

It’s sure to be only a delay. The trend has been steady for over a decade, driven by overzealous professionals and bureaucrats with a progressive worldview, having reduced the meaning of life to the virtues they hold highest: choice, dignity, and autonomy. These values, once s…