The Nov. 2 Style article “Can anorexia ever be terminal?” discussed the use of physician-assisted suicide for anorexia patients. As a disability policy professional in recovery from anorexia, I want to stress the extreme dangers of creating a “terminal anorexia” diagnosis and offering assisted suicide to patients who fit those criteria.
When I was 19, I was eating fewer than 500 calories a day, working out obsessively, losing my hair and suffering dizzy spells from low blood pressure. I attempted suicide twice. I did not feel “infantilized,” as Joel Yager, a proponent of assisted suicide for anorexia, intimated in the article, when I was finally pushed to get help. Malnutrition and the irrational nature of the disease itself absolutely kept me from making sound decisions about my long-term health during this time. If I were under the care of someone who told me that killing myself was an acceptable option, I would be dead.
A requirement that people try “high-quality” treatment before going through with assisted suicide is not protective. Entering a treatment program is different from completing it. In fact, individuals in one case report left or failed treatment programs — and were still allowed to die by assisted suicide.
Because of the highly personal nature of anorexia, recovery is a long and complex process. Offering these patients, who are statistically more likely to be suicidal, the option to kill themselves as a form of “medical treatment” is irresponsible.
