I want to talk to a friend about voluntary assisted dying, but I feel like I’m pressuring them

I have three close friends living with progressive illnesses. Despite my 45-plus-year career as a psychologist, I’m grappling with how best to navigate the likely conversations about voluntary assisted dying (VAD). It’s daunting.

Sam* was diagnosed with Parkinson’s five years ago. After this bombshell, we discussed the options ahead, and I asked whether he’d considered “Plan B”. Sam knows me well enough to comprehend what I was alluding to, such is the shorthand between intimates. But feeling optimistic about treatment breakthroughs, he demurred...