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 selfdetermination.
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.