Psychiatrists are essential to protecting life against physician assisted suicide

Thank you Dr Komrad, for your leadership and dedication.

We are living in a time when death is lurking in nearly every news report because the world is experiencing one of the worst pandemics in history.

Along with the overwhelming amount of troubling and tragic information spewing forth during the coronavirus pandemic of 2019-2020, the worst of it is in the daily escalation of numbers of deaths confirmed by the COVID-19 diagnosis.  Nurses who I regularly speak to are expressing concern about how they are seeing the human side of this tragedy taking a nearly irreconcible toll on patients. They see patients who are isolated during their hospitalization, on their families and on the caregivers who become quasi "surrogate" relatives to their patients. 

As a result, I am wondering how Americans can reconcile the urgency for a universal call for compassion in response to the pandemic with support for physician assisted suicide.  In my opinion, and I've heard this echo from experts, we will never know the death toll caused by COVID-19, because suicides will not likely be included in the data.  This essay published in the Euthanasia Prevention newsletter reminds us about how important it is for psychiatrists to advocate for protecting lives against suicide and to oppose the legalization of physician assisted suicide.

Friday, May 8, 2020  Dr Mark Komrad*: "Psychiatrists prevent suicide, not provide it."

Published by Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

There are many great doctors working to prevent euthanasia and assisted suicide, but Psychiatrist and ethicist, Mark Komrad, has excelled in his research, leadership and talking points.

Duke University School of Medicine Alumni Magazine recently featured Dr Komrad's career, accomplishments and his opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Dr. Komrad told Aliza Inbari, from the Alumni Magazine:

“I feel that killing does not belong in the house of medicine, should not be a part of palliative care, and especially not for psychiatric patients.  Psychiatrists prevent suicide, not provide it.”

In fact, Dr Komrad was featured in the Fatal Flaws film where he poignantly stated that:

"If assisted death were done with a gun, then it would be universally seen as wrong."

Inbari explained Komrad's opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide:

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in some countries in Europe, Canada, and in several U.S. states. In most places, physician-assisted suicide is allowed only in cases of terminal illness, but a few jurisdictions, notably Belgium and The 

Netherlands, allow patients with mental illness access to the procedure. Komrad is deeply opposed to the practice. 

“I found it profoundly disturbing that in Belgium and the Netherlands, a significant number of psychiatric patients every year are voluntarily euthanized by their own treating psychiatrists,” says Komrad.Inbari states how Komrad's opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide has changed his life.

The issue has transformed his career from ethicist to activist, and he has become one of the leading figures in the country expressing ethical concerns about the physician assisted suicide issue. 

Dr. Komrad has addressed the parliaments of Sweden and Norway, met with policymakers in Brazil, and consulted to the government of Canada, and he lectures at conferences and psychiatry departments around the country.Thank you Dr Komrad, for your leadership and dedication.

Links to some of the excellent articles by Dr Mark Komrad:

Why Psychiatrists should oppose euthanasia (Link).
Euthanasia and assisted suicide are unethical acts (Link).
Psychiatrists: We prevent suicide not provide it (Link).
Why Norway and Sweden should not allow assisted suicide (Link).
Assessing competency for assisted suicide is unethical (Link).

*Dr. Mark S. Komard was named “National Exemplary Psychiatrist” and “Mental Health Professional of the Year” by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Dr. Komrad is a psychiatrist on the teaching faculty of Johns Hopkins and Sheppard Pratt in Baltimore and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland and Tulane.Named “National Exemplary Psychiatrist” and “Mental Health Professional of the Year” by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Dr. Komrad is a psychiatrist on the teaching faculty of Johns Hopkins and Sheppard Pratt in Baltimore and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland and Tulane.