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HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Rehabilitation
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1463813

Exploring the Interplay of Clinical, Ethical and Societal Dynamics: Two Decades of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) on psychiatric grounds in the Netherlands and Belgium

Provisionally accepted
Monica Verhofstadt Monica Verhofstadt 1Radboud Marijnissen Radboud Marijnissen 2*Daan Creemers Daan Creemers 3Sanne Rasing Sanne Rasing 3Lizanne Schweren Lizanne Schweren 4Sigrid Sterckx Sigrid Sterckx 5Koen Titeca Koen Titeca 6Sisco van Veen Sisco van Veen 7Rosalie Pronk Rosalie Pronk 8
  • 1 Vrije University Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2 University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
  • 3 GGZ Oost Brabant, Boekel, Netherlands
  • 4 University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
  • 5 Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  • 6 AZ Groeninge, Kortrijk, Belgium
  • 7 Amsterdam University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 8 Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Psychiatric Grounds (MAID-PG), focusing on ethical, clinical, and societal perspectives. Two themes are explored. First, the growing number of young MAID-PG requestors and the public platform given to MAID-PG requests. Ethically, media portrayal, particularly of young patients' testimonials, requires scrutiny for oversimplification, acknowledging the potential for a Werther effect alongside the absence of a Papageno effect. This highlights the need for better communication policies for media purposes. Second, cautionary considerations regarding psychiatric care adequacy are addressed. In MAID-PG this includes reasons underlying psychiatrist reluctance to engage in MAID-PG trajectories, leading to growing waiting lists at end-of-life-care centers. Addressing current shortages in psychiatric care adequacy is crucial, necessitating less narrow focus on short-term care trajectories and recovery beside transdiagnostic treatment approaches, expanded palliative care strategies, and integrated MAID-PG care.

    Keywords: Euthanasia, Psychiatry, Assisted suicide, mental illness, End-of-life care

    Received: 12 Jul 2024; Accepted: 23 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Verhofstadt, Marijnissen, Creemers, Rasing, Schweren, Sterckx, Titeca, van Veen and Pronk. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Radboud Marijnissen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.