Words Matter: Why Distinguishing Medical Aid in Dying From Suicide Should Matter to a Consultation-Liaison Psychiatrist

Abstract

As more and more American states legalize medical aid in dying (MAID), Consultation-Liaison Psychiatrists will increasingly be asked to assist medical and surgical colleagues in differentiating this end-of-life practice from suicide. Where suicide is traditionally understood as an act clouded by depression, desperation, or both, MAID represents a terminally medically ill patient's effort to take control of their dying process when death is imminent, likely to occur within 6 months, and inevitable. Rendering opinions on patient suicidality in the setting of a complex co-occurring medical illness is a Consultation-Liaison Psychiatrist's bread and butter. This paper seeks to elucidate 4 points that distinguish MAID from suicide: (1) Hastening death when the end of natural life is approaching is not synonymous with suicide in the vernacular American usage of the term. (2) Unlike suicide, MAID is a highly collaborative process in which dying, mentally capable adults involve their doctors and loved ones in legally recognized decisions to hasten death. (3) The clinical presentation of patients requesting MAID differs from that of individuals whose suicidality is driven by psychopathology. (4) Certain behavioral traits differentiate such MAID patients from suicidal ones. Understanding and applying these distinctions in the consultation-liaison arena will help remove the stigma of suicide from end-of-life care deliberations where it does not belong while ensuring appropriate end-of-life care for dying individuals for whom MAID is the culmination of a carefully considered process of self-determination rather than suicide.