Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD): Ethical Considerations for Psychologists

Significant ethical challenges arise when mental health practitioners care for patients who seek to accelerate their own dying for rational medically valid reasons. Current and proposed laws provide for medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in several U.S. jurisdictions, all of Canada, and several other nations. Differing provisions of these laws complicate their utility for some patients who seek aid in dying. Some extant laws include roles that mental health professionals might play in assessing patients’ competence or capacity to consent, mental illness, or other cognitive and behavioral factors. Practitioners who choose to accept roles in the MAiD process must consider and resolve a number of ethical challenges including potential conflicts between and among laws, ethical standards, third-party requests, personal values, and patients’ wishes. These include becoming aware of patients who may wish to act independently to end their lives when MAiD laws might otherwise exclude them. Examples from actual cases and the resultant discussion will form a basis for exploration of the ethical and legal complexities confronted when psychologists become engaged in the process either intentionally or incidentally. The lead article (Koocher) is not intended to comprehensively address MAiD in all of its complexity but rather to trigger a thoughtful discussion among the accompanying commentaries

Democracy: the forgotten challenge for bioethics in the developing countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bioethics as a field related to the health system and health service delivery has grown in the second half of the 20^thcentury, mainly in North America. This is attributed, the author argues, to mainly three kinds of development that took place in the developed countries at a pace different than the developing countries. They are namely: development of the health system; moral development; and political development.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This article discusses the factors that impede the development of the field of bioethics from an academic activity to a living field that is known and practiced by the people in the developing countries. They are quite many; however, the emphasis here is on role of the political structure in the developing countries and how it negatively affects the development of bioethics. It presents an argument that if bioethics is to grow within the system of health service, it should be accompanied by a parallel changes in the political mindsets in these countries.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>For bioethics to flourish in developing countries, it needs an atmosphere of freedom where people can practice free moral reasoning and have full potential to take their life decisions by themselves. Moreover, bioethics could be a tool for political change through the empowerment of people, especially the vulnerable.</p> <p>To achieve that, the article is proposing a practical framework for facilitating the development of the field of bioethics in the developing countries.</p

The parents' guide to psychological first aid helping children and adolescents cope with predictable life crises

Presents articles by recognized experts who provide parents with the information needed in order to help children navigate the many trying problems that typically afflict young people