Eating disorders are not "untreatable" ---- and not a reason for euthanasia

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Chelsea Roff

The assisted suicide lobby wants to redefine chronic conditions as terminal conditions in order to expand the number of people who have availability to euthanasia and assisted suicide. In America, most assisted suicide laws require a person to have a six month prognosis to be approved for death by assisted suicide.

On July 30, a landmark study was published by Frontiers in Psychiatry that analyzed 60 known cases of euthanasia or assisted suicide deaths based on eating disorders.

Chelsea Roff, the Executive Director of Eat, Breathe, Thrive, an organization that helps people recover from eating disorders, is challenging the concept that people with eating disorders are "untreatable" and can be approved for euthanasia and assisted suicide. The Eat Breathe Thrive update states:

It's been a big year. Since January, we've published three studies on our interventions with Dr. Catherine Cook-Cottone, including a large international randomized controlled trial showing our four-week program can be effective for people with long-standing eating disorders. It’s a huge step in showing that even those who have struggled for years can benefit from the right care and support.

We’ve also faced sobering realities. In August, we learned that over 60 people with eating disorders have died by assisted death. 95% were labeled as “untreatable.” For me, this was a turning point.

Roff is challenging the concept that eating disorders should qualify someone for being killed by euthanasia or assisted suicide. Her study was published in early December in the International Journal of Eat Disorders. Roff successfully helped 277 people with eating disorders,  70% of whom had been living with a chronic eating disorder for at least 10 years.

Eat, Breathe, Thrive stated in their press release:

The randomized controlled trial evaluated the Eat Breathe Thrive Recovery program (EBT-R) and included 277 participants from 27 countries, aged 18 to 65. Nearly 70% of participants had been living with eating disorders for over a decade—a population often labelled as having “severe and enduring eating disorders” and described as resistant to treatment. Notably, 64% of participants had previously attempted therapy, and 22% had undergone inpatient treatment, yet had not achieved recovery prior to participating in this study.

The assisted suicide lobby is not concerned with the science or treatment opportunities that may be available to those people who seek death. They are only concerned with expanding access to death by lethal poison. The philosophy of these pro-death people, that killing people is about personal freedom, choice or autonomy, is actually a propaganda tool --- leading people in need to abandonment and death.