Herbert Hendin

About the author: Herbert Hendin is a professor of psychiatry at the New York Medical College in Valhalla. He is also the medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and author of Seduced by Death, from which the following viewpoint was excerpted.

The vast majority of those who request assisted suicide or euthanasia are having difficulty coping with the uncertainties of life, are dreading what will happen to them, and are feeling ambivalent about death. These patients are usually suffering from a treatable depressive condition that could be addressed with the help of a caring and knowledgeable physician. When the fears and anxieties which accompany depression are dealt with, and the patient can take care of unfinished business, requests for death usually cease. In fact, after treatment, the...