Call for Chapters: Medically Assisted Dying for Persons with Mental IIlness: Philosophical, Ethical, and Legal Perspectives | ESOL edit
CFP for publication or other deadlineOctober 30, 2026
Call for Chapters: Medically Assisted Dying for Persons with Mental IIlness: Philosophical, Ethical, and Legal Perspectives
Call for chapters on psychiatric euthanasia and physician-assisted dying, examining philosophical, ethical, legal, clinical, and empirical perspectives.
Edited Volume
Planned publisher:
Planned series:
Editors
David Černý
Tomáš Doležal
Adam Doležal (Czech Academy of Sciences)
Manuel Trachsel (University of Basel)
Scope
This edited volume aims to provide a comprehensive, systematic, book-length treatment of psychiatric euthanasia and physician-assisted dying (PAD) for persons with mental disorders. The volume will integrate philosophical analysis, normative bioethics, comparative law, and clinical and empirical perspectives.
The editors welcome contributions that are philosophically rigorous and normatively ambitious while carefully engaging with clinical and legal realities.
What We Are Looking For
Proposals should offer:
Rigorous argumentation and conceptual clarity
Careful engagement with clinical and legal realities
Empirical grounding where relevant
An interdisciplinary orientation, including philosophical, bioethical, legal, psychiatric, or genuinely interdisciplinary approaches
Accessibility to an international scholarly readership
The volume is envisaged as a four-part collection, moving from conceptual groundwork through normative debates and legal frameworks to clinical practice and lived experience.
Suggested Topics
Part I — Conceptual and Historical Foundations
Concepts, definitions, and key distinctions, including psychiatric, somatic, and "mixed" cases
History of euthanasia debates in relation to mental illness
The nature of mental suffering and the badness or possible acceptability of death
Autonomy, competence, and decision-making capacity in psychiatric contexts, including fluctuating capacity and ambivalence
Part II — Normative Arguments and Ethical Frameworks
"Parity" arguments and their limits: somatic vs. psychiatric indications
Beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice in psychiatric euthanasia
Vulnerability, coercion, and structural injustice, including stigma, poverty, loneliness, and access to care
Slippery-slope arguments, expressivist concerns, and symbolic meanings
Part III — Legal Frameworks and Comparative Law
The Netherlands: statutory framework, guidelines, and review practice
Belgium: regulation, case law, oversight bodies, and landmark cases
Canada: MAiD and the contested expansion to mental disorders
Comparative and human-rights perspectives
Emerging jurisdictions and models of professional self-regulation
Part IV — Clinical Practice, Empirical Evidence, and Lived Experience
Treatment resistance, prognosis, and "irremediability": epistemic limits in psychiatry
Assessing voluntariness and stability of the wish to die; distinguishing suicidality-as-symptom from a sustained request
Empirical studies of patient profiles, clinician and review-body reasoning, and procedural experiences
Suicide prevention, palliative psychiatry, recovery-oriented care, and "reasonable alternatives"
Future directions, including research priorities, policy implications, and professional guidance
Volume Profile and Review Process
The book is planned for Springer's International Library of Bioethics; the contract is currently in preparation. The volume is expected to contain approximately 16–17 chapters, including an overall introduction and concluding chapter.
All chapters will undergo peer review through an editor-coordinated review process.
Submission Guidelines
Please submit an abstract including:
Provisional title
Abstract (recommended 400–800 words)
4–6 keywords
Short author bio (100–150 words)
Full chapters should be original, written in English, and prepared to align with Springer's book-manuscript requirements.
Timeline
Extended abstracts due: 28 February 2026
Full chapters due: 30 October 2026
Final manuscript submission to Springer: 30 December 2026
How to Submit
Please send your abstract as a single PDF or DOCX with the subject line "Psychiatric Euthanasia – Chapter Proposal" to David Černý at david.cerny@ilaw.cas.cz.