SEATTLE, May 6 (UPI) -- Patients driven to seek doctor-assisted suicide acted after a deliberative and thoughtful process, a research study says.
The report, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, involved 35 cases in which patients considered asking a physician to help in their death wish and presents heretofore very limited data on the grim situation.
Patients in this study were shown to be motivated to engage in such behavior by three types of issues: illness-related experience (fatigue, functional loss, or discomfort), loss of sense of self or identity and fears about the future (deterioration).
None of the patients seemed to be seriously depressed when they planned the assisted suicide, the study said.
Doctor-assisted suicide is reportedly widespread in the United States, though only legal for terminally-ill patients in Oregon.
