Autism and Assisted Suicide

Abstract

Autistic people have died by euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) in Belgium and the Netherlands. While these countries’ laws allow EAS for patients suffering from nonterminal psychological disorders when certain “due care” criteria are met, the practice of granting EAS for psychological disorders in general has drawn scrutiny. But there are complex issues specific to autism that have received little attention. The author examines three important questions about the Belgian and Dutch due care criteria as they pertain to autism. First, how might autism affect decision-making capacity for EAS? Second, how might autism affect the voluntariness of EAS requests? Third, is autism a medically futile condition such that there is no reasonable alternative to EAS for alleviating suffering? The author argues that what is known about autism vis-à-vis these due care criteria suggests that autistic people might be a vulnerable group at heightened risk for irremediable harm of premature death from EAS.