Clinical problems with the performance of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands

Article Abstract:

Some doctors in the Netherlands who only intend to help a patient commit suicide end up euthanizing them instead. During physician-assisted suicide, the patient takes a lethal drug, but during euthanasia, the doctor actually administers the drug. Researchers reviewed 114 cases of physician-assisted suicide and 535 cases of euthanasia in the Netherlands. In 21 of the cases of physician-assisted suicide, the patient was unable to complete the act for various reasons. So the doctor decided to administer the medication. These problems were more likely to occur in cases of physician-assisted suicide than in euthanasia cases.

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Euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and other medical practices involving the end of life in the Netherlands, 1990-1995

Article Abstract:

The widespread acceptance of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands has not led to abuses of the practice. Researchers compared the incidence of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands in 1990 and 1995, at which times two large physician surveys were performed. Although requests for euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide increased during this time, doctors were still reluctant to perform these procedures. The incidence of both procedures increased only slightly during that time. Most of the patients were cancer patients.

Social policy

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Physician-assisted death in psychiatric practice in the Netherlands

Article Abstract:

Many Dutch psychiatrists are asked to help their patients commit suicide but few comply. This was the finding of a survey of 552 Dutch psychiatrists in 1996, two years after the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that patients with mental illness could request physician-assisted suicide. Of the psychiatrists surveyed, 205 had received such a request but only 12 agreed. Of those who had never assisted in a suicide, 64% believed it was an acceptable request for someone suffering from mental illness. However, many also believed that mental illness is treatable.

Psychological aspects, Laws, regulations and rules, Mentally ill persons, Practice, Mentally ill, Psychiatrists

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