Swiss court ruling allows euthanasia for mentally ill
CHRISTOPHER CLAIRE
A RULING by Switzerland's highest court has opened up the possibility that people with serious mental illnesses could be helped by doctors to take their own lives.
Switzerland already allows doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients under certain circumstances. The Federal Tribunal's decision puts mental illnesses on the same level as physical ones.
but don't worry there are checks and balances...
In their ruling the judges made it clear certain conditions would have to be met before a mentally ill person's request for suicide assistance could be considered justified: "A distinction has to be made between a death wish which is an expression of a curable, psychiatric disorder and which requires treatment, and [a death wish] which is based on a person of sound judgment's own well-considered and permanent decision, which must be respected."So if the mentally ill person is a person of sound judgment who makes well-considered and permanent decisions it's OK.
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