Older People's Discourses About Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: A Foucauldian Exploration

Purpose of the study: This study aims to contribute an alternative understanding of the position of older people in the euthanasia and assisted suicide (EU/AS) debate.

Design and methods: Seven interviews were analyzed using Foucauldian discourse analysis, to explore concepts like knowledge, power, subjectification and surveillance.

Results: The participants presented a "confused and conflicted" discourse, expressing the view that EU/AS is a family affair, whilst also articulating a strong sense of self-determination. Although a discourse of the medicalization of dying through medical control and surveillance was endorsed, an alternative discourse of "dying outside the medical gaze" emerged. Participants, who were in favor of EU/AS, felt "voiceless," as apparent double standards were applied in the debate, and powerful others, for example, physicians and politicians, seemed reluctant to engage. Within an "aged death" discourse, the anticipated dependency on poor care from (professional) others, made participants consider EU/AS as ways of avoiding this stage of life and the associated loss of dignity.

Implications: By using Foucauldian discourse analysis, alternative power relationships were revealed which might give a different interpretation to the concept of the "slippery slope." Societal discourses and related behaviors, which devalue the dependent and old, might become internalized by older people, leading them to consider EU/AS as preferable end-of-life options.