According to Jones, Gastmans, and Mackellar, (2017), the Economist on November 16, 2015, released a film known as “24 & ready to die”. The film is a narrative about Emily a young Belgium girl who found life unbearable and requested clinicians to assist her in dying through Euthanasia. However, Weatherbe, (2015) noted that after winning approval for assisted suicide Emily changed her judgment and decided to keep on living. The film brings back the debate about euthanasia in treatment for incurable distress as well as psychological disorders. While many people are adamantly against physician involvements in assisted suicides, others promote the use of euthanasia ( Weatherbe, 2015) . A vast majority of us are however uncertain of what to believe and think about euthanasia option and what role medical personals should play in psychotherapy. Moreover, people debate about what criteria to include when approving euthanasia for psychological suffering.
Many people debate whether people who have psychological disorders including incurable disease should be allowed to undergo euthanasia and assisted suicide. Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, (2017) maintained that euthanasia refers to a situation where the law allows doctors to end an individual’s life by painless means as long as the patient and their family agree. On the other hand, Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, (2017) upheld that assisted suicide occurs when physicians assist patients to commit suicide if the patients request it. However, euthanasia and assisted suicide raise some ethical dilemmas. The first dilemma is whether it is ever right to end the life of terminally ill patients who are in grief and experiencing severe pain. Moreover, Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, (2017) observed that it is difficult to know the justifiable circumstances that assisted suicide or euthanasia is right.
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Proponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide for people with incurable diseases or those who have mental illness maintain that people should be allowed to die with dignity and without pain . In situations where the ill are not in a position on making an informed decision, other people should be allowed to assist them (Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, 2017). People supporting the idea of assisted suicide and euthanasia uphold that people have the right to choose what they want to do with their bodies and it is wrong to make a person live longer against their will (Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, 2017). Similarly, proponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide for mentally ill patients believe that depressed and suicidal individuals should be given the right to die through a good medical procedure (Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, 2017). If physicians assist mentally ill patients to end their lives, they save patients from experiencing traumatic and painful deaths like jumping off a building or hanging themselves.
Conversely, opponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide maintain that allowing mentally ill, people with incurable distress undergo assisted suicides, and euthanasia is against humanity (Paterson, 2018) . Those against these approaches consider euthanasia, assisted killing as a homicide , and regarded as murder (Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, 2017). Instead of resorting to euthanasia and aided suicides , physicians should use palliative care to control physical, social and psychological suffering (Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, 2017). For the mentally ill patients’ euthanasia should not be the last resort since depressives illnesses can distort an individual’s thinking and compromise on their capacity to make informed decisions (Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, 2017). Consequently, it would be impossible for a mentally ill person to make rational choices about euthanasia or abetted suicide (Paterson, 2018) .
Physicians face difficult challenges when responding to patients who want to end their lives. Clinicians’ beliefs should not inform what they have to say or not say when counseling patients who wish to control how and when to die (Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, 2017). Instead, doctors need to ensure that they respond compassionately and sensitively to patients who want to hasten their death and ensure that their response does not contradict with the law or support a patient to compel suicide (Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, 2017). It is paramount to practice good listening and to respect patient decisions.
It is Imperative that physicians follow the law, show respect for human life and guarantee that you provide the patients with information that they may require in making their decisions about health (Paterson, 2018) . Additionally ensuring that you respect patient view, as well as their privacy and dignity, is an integral part of good medical practice (Paterson, 2018) . Apart from discussing with patients their treatment options, it is essential to discuss with the patients the importance of including other treatments options that the patient might want or not want when they can no longer have the ability to express their wishes (Paterson, 2018) .
What is more confident in the film is that the story promotes the idea of euthanasia as a possible solution for those people who want it is also a strategy to help other people to want to continue living. The film “ 24 & Ready to Die” contains several lessons that people can learn about euthanasia and assisted suicide. From this movie, individuals acquire knowledge about the options that they have when they wish to end their lives. However, from the movies, we also learn that even if a patient decides to end their life, they still have an opportunity to reverse their decision and choose life over death (Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, 2017) . The story further highlights the struggles young people experience as they try to gain a consciousness of their individuality (Jones, Gastmans, & Mackellar, 2017).
References
Jones, D. A., Gastmans, C., & Mackellar, C. (2017). Euthanasia and assisted suicide: Lessons from Belgium. : Cambridge University Press.
Paterson, C. (2018). Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: A Natural Law Ethics Approach . Ashgate Publishing Group.
Weatherbe, S. (2015, November 16). Belgium would-be suicide girl’s change of heart proves euthanasia is not the answer: Disability activists | News | Life Site. Retrieved from https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/belgium-would-be-suicide-girls-change-of-heart-proves-euthanasia-isnt-the-a
