{"id":264658,"date":"2022-03-18T12:40:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T17:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=264658"},"modified":"2022-03-18T13:41:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T18:41:11","slug":"colorado-doctor-suicide-pills-anorexia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/colorado-doctor-suicide-pills-anorexia\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado doctor admits to giving suicide pills to anorexia patients"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A Colorado doctor has confirmed that she has given assisted suicide medication to three people suffering from anorexia nervosa \u2014 a mental condition that is not<\/em> considered terminal. In a recent interview with The Colorado Sun,<\/a> Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, a registered dietician, defended her role in the deaths. Gaudiani argues that anorexia nervosa is unlike other psychiatric disorders, and therefore if treatment is unsuccessful, patients should be allowed to kill themselves.<\/p>\n

According to Mayo Clinic<\/a>, “anorexia nervosa \u2014 often simply called anorexia \u2014 is an eating disorder characterized by an abnormally low body weight, an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted perception of weight.” If severe enough, this disorder can lead to starvation. While the disorder does lead to physical side effects, it has psychological and emotional roots. John Hopkins Medical<\/a> reports that some of the main risk factors include brain chemical imbalances, developmental issues, genetics, social attitudes, and family influences.<\/p>\n

In an article in the Journal of Eating Disorders, Gaudiani claims<\/a>, “patients with terminal AN [anorexia nervosa] who are severely physiologically compromised, and whose end-of life suffering results from both psychological and physical pain, should be afforded access to medical aid in dying in locations where such assistance has been legalized \u2014 just like other patients with terminal conditions.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Case report in US shows woman may undergo assisted suicide for anorexia<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe very core of my work is about helping people recover from their eating disorder, no matter how old they are, or how sick they\u2019ve been, or how long they\u2019ve been ill,\u201d she told The Sun. \u201cA very, very exceptionally rare subset of my work was the care of these three spectacular patients. And there was a great deal of nervousness because these are brilliant, young, exceptional people about whom most would think they just have to eat.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is only in the rare case, where somebody who is competent, of sound mind, who has gone through as much treatment as they can bear and cannot bear to keep going, that we consider whether they might qualify for a palliative and hospice approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sun reports that Guadiani’s willingness to advocate for assisted suicide for anorexia patients is raising alarm among other doctors and psychiatrists. \u201cIt is in direct contradiction to treating mental illness, promoting hope for recovery, and improving quality of life for our patients,\u201d said Dr. Angela Guarda, a Johns Hopkins psychiatrist. Guarda also pointed out that anorexia is a treatable condition, not a terminal one.<\/p>\n

Many are worried that allowing assisted suicide for a psychiatric condition like anorexia will open the door to approving it for other mental conditions. Once you allow a person who is terminally ill to choose to end their own life, the conversation eventually turns to allowing anyone to end their own life. Legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia are a dangerous collective slippery slope.<\/p>\n

Dr. Annette Hanson of the University of Maryland told The Sun that she’s worried about the impact this will have on the assisted suicide movement. \u201cI think we should be incredibly cautious in saying that it\u2019s an illness that is irreversible when what makes it irreversible is somebody\u2019s refusal to eat and that refusal to eat comes with a psychiatric condition,” she said. “I\u2019m also hugely worried about our other very vulnerable psychiatric patients who have schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and all sorts of mental illnesses.”<\/p>\n

“I have no joy in talking about any of this,\u201d she added. \u201cI think it\u2019s very sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Colorado doctor has confirmed that she has given assisted suicide medication to three people suffering from anorexia nervosa \u2014 a mental condition that is not considered terminal. In a recent interview with The Colorado Sun, Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, a registered dietician, defended her role in the deaths. Gaudiani argues that anorexia nervosa is unlike […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":264685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4,3473],"tags":[1577,16375,1303,16376,498,16374,16373],"yoast_head":"\nColorado doctor admits to giving suicide pills to anorexia patients<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Colorado doctor has confirmed that she has given assisted suicide medication to three people suffering from anorexia nervosa, which is not terminal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/colorado-doctor-suicide-pills-anorexia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colorado 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