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| Article - Abstract. To view full article click on the article title. | |
MJA: Ryan, Depression, decisions and the desire to die Depression, decisions and the desire to die. All patients who request withdrawal of non-futile life-sustaining treatment should first undergo psychiatric assessment MJA 1996; 165: 411. Sadness and despair are normal responses to the news that one is gravely ill. However, as many as one in five seriously ill people go beyond this normal response to develop major depression.1-4 Major depression is far more than a disorder of emotion; its effects on reason and the intellect may be just as profound. As it takes hold, it steadily infiltrates and infects its victim's every thought. Everything comes to be seen through a veil of despondency and despair. As time passes, sadness turns to emptiness and emptiness turns to pain. Increasingly, there seem fewer and fewer options. Often, toward the end, the patient can see no way out of the blackness and all hope is lost. Ten percent commit suicide. Some seriously ill people, like those with end-stage renal failure or potentially terminal cancer, require medical treatments to continue to live. In Australia, there is a legal right to refuse such treatment. The laws that bestow this right are based upon the principle of maximising autonomy, which asserts that competent adults should be allowed to make their own choices about their own lives, provided these choices do not cause harm to others. Full Article: http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/oct21/ryan/ryan.html |
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2006 Ethics-Governance.com |
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