(The Washington Post) – Euthanasia has been permissible in Belgium and the Netherlands since early in the 21st century, and the practice has expanded rapidly beyond cases of terminal physical illness, such as cancer, to encompass non-terminal illnesses including psychiatric conditions such as depression or bipolar disorder.

Note that this is far different from physician-assisted suicide as practiced in U.S. states such as Oregon, which can only involve physicians prescribing lethal doses to patients suffering from physical ailments certifiably expected to cause death within six months. In the Low Countries, doctors themselves administer the lethal dose, usually by injection — and, to repeat, upon a request for alleviation of “unbearable suffering” caused by any disorder, terminal or non-terminal, physical or mental. CONTINUE