Euthanasia and other end-of-life decisions in the Netherlands in 1990, 1995, and 2001

Empirical data on the rate of euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and other end-of-life decisions have greatly contributed to the debate about the role of such practices in modern health care. In the Netherlands, the continuing debate about whether and when physician-assisted dying is acceptable...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 2003-08, Vol.362 (9381), p.395-399
Main Authors: Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D, van der Heide, Aǵnes, Koper, Dirk, Keij-Deerenberg, Inǵeborg, Rietjens, Judith AC, Rurup, Mette L, Vrakking, Astrid M, Georges, Jean Jacques, Muller, Martien T, van der Wal, Gerrit, van der Maas, Paul J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Assisted suicide
Attitude of Health Personnel
Attitude to Death
Attitude to Health
Bioethics
Biological and medical sciences
Careers
Cause of Death
Clinical decision making
Death & dying
Death Certificates
Decision Making
Decisions
Ethics
Euthanasia
Euthanasia - statistics & numerical data
Euthanasia - trends
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Mental health
Netherlands - epidemiology
Physicians
Physicians - psychology
Right to Die
Suicide
Suicide, Assisted - statistics & numerical data
Suicide, Assisted - trends
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Items that cite this one
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Summary:Empirical data on the rate of euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and other end-of-life decisions have greatly contributed to the debate about the role of such practices in modern health care. In the Netherlands, the continuing debate about whether and when physician-assisted dying is acceptable seems to be resulting in a gradual stabilisation of end-of-life practices. We replicated interview and death-certificate studies done in 1990 and 1995 to investigate whether end-of-life practices had altered between 1995 and 2001. Since 1995, the demand for physician-assisted death has not risen among patients and physicians, who seem to have become somewhat more reluctant in their attitude towards this practice.
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)14029-9