Forensic-psychiatric and medico-legal challenges in euthanasia and assisted suicide for patients with mental disorders: balancing autonomy, vulnerability, and professional responsibility

BackgroundEuthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) in individuals with mental disorders represents a complex and controversial area at the intersection of clinical practice, bioethics, and medico-legal evaluation. While suffering is inherently subjective in both psychiatric and somatic conditions, psychiatric contexts are characterized by greater fluctuation, contextual dependence, and prognostic uncertainty, which complicate the assessment of its severity, persistence, and potential reversibility