Psychiatric VSED (Iris Dekker)

Like patients using MAID, patients using VSED typically have serious physical illnesses such as cancer and ALS. But just as an increasing number of patients seek MAID for psychiatric reasons, an increasing number of patients seek VSED for psychiatric reasons.

Rupa Subramanya offers the compelling case of 19-year-old Iris Dekker. While tragic, both VSED and MAID are justified responses to prolonged, treatment-resistant suffering of any kind.