Ms. Tessa Holzman1
1Monash University
The aim of my presentation will be to receive considered feedback on a work-in-progress meant for publication. The topic of this publication will be whether existential suffering should ethically be acceptable grounds to grant an individual euthanasia or voluntary assisted dying. This question has recently been under heated debate in the Netherlands, in part fuelled by a number of publications focusing on the controversial Heringa case. In this case, an elderly Dutch woman was refused assisted dying on the basis that she was not suffering unbearably. Some have argued since that she in fact was, but that her suffering was existential in nature rather than physical or psychological. This debate is also relevant to the law proposal submitted by Dutch parliamentarian Pia Dijkstra, to allow euthanasia for a ‘Completed Life’. This means there is nothing medically wrong with the individual seeking death, they rather feel like their life is biographically finished, and they do not wish to continue for existential reasons. This law proposal is currently being considered and researched, making this topic urgent and immediate. In my presentation I will argue that events that happen toward the end of one’s life have the potential to cause amplified suffering, and can even change one’s perspective on one’s life as a whole. This suggests existential suffering should be taken seriously as a valid reason to be granted assisted dying. I also argue for the introduction of a separate healthcare professional to identify and manage symptoms of existential suffering.
Biography:
Bio to come