Being "tired of life" is not grounds for euthanasia

doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7380.71/b

BMJ 2003;326:71 ( 11 January )

News

Being "tired of life" is not grounds for euthanasia

Tony Sheldon, Utrecht
The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In a landmark decision the Dutch Supreme Court has ruled that doctors may not perform euthanasia or help with suicide unlessthe request comes from a patient suffering from a medically classifiablephysical or psychiatric sickness or disorder. Simply being "tiredof life" is no basis for doctors toact.

In what the media have branded the "tired of life case," the limits of euthanasia practice have been defined, after the casetook two years to reach the highest court in the land. The decisionhas been welcomed by the Royal Dutch Medical Association for offering"clarity" in doctors' work. Voluntary euthanasia was decriminalisedin the Netherlands in2001.

GP Philip Sutorius, who had helped an 86 year old patient die in the belief that the patient was suffering unbearably becauseof his obsession with his physical decline and hopeless existence,was initially acquitted in 2000. But an Amsterdam appeal courtfound . . . [Full text of this article]