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Psychologist: Why suicide and medical aid in dying are truly different
As a board-certified clinical psychologist for the last four decades who has counseled both patients who were dying and those who wanted to end their life prematurely via suicide, I can tell you unequivocally that there is no comparison between the two. But don’t just take my word for it.
Jeff Gardere
The American Association of Suicidology, a suicide prevention, medical research association whose membership includes mental health and public health professionals, issued a position statement in 2017 concluding:
“[S]uicide and physician aid in dying are conceptually, medically, and legally different phenomena … including intention, absence of physical self-violence, the physician’s assessment that the patient’s choice is not distorted by mental illness, a personal view of self-preservation versus self-destruction, and by the fact that the person who has requested aid in dying does not typically die alo