Chelsea Roff of Eat Breathe Thrive has published a groundbreaking study on the impacts of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia on people with eating disorders. At least sixty such individuals have died worldwide from these activities – likely many more. From Eat Breathe Thrive:

“This report highlights the dangers of physician-assisted suicide to people with eating disorders. It explores how a practice intended for terminally ill patients has been misapplied to treatable mental health conditions. Tragically, this has led to preventable deaths, robbing patients of the chance to heal and denying families the care and support they desperately needed.

Eating disorders are treatable, not terminal conditions. In the U.S., assisted suicide is only legal for patients with a terminal illness and less than six months to live. Yet, a groundbreaking study shows that some doctors have misrepresented eating disorders as terminal in order to prescribe patients lethal drugs — denying patients and families the chance for life-saving treatment.

This report urges immediate action to close these loopholes and prevent further deaths. Clinicians and policymakers must act now to ensure people with eating disorders receive effective and timely treatment, not assistance in suicide.”

Read the full report here.