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Dutch euthanasia law should apply to patients "suffering through living," report says

Utrecht Tony Sheldon

Doctors can help patients who ask for help to die even though they may not be ill but "suffering through living," concludes a three year inquiry commissioned by the Royal Dutch Medical Association. The report argues that no reason can be given to exclude situations of such suffering from a doctor’s area of competence.

The conclusion has reopened a fierce debate over what constitutes grounds for requesting euthanasia, as it contradicts a landmark Supreme Court decision that a patient must have a "classifiable physical or mental condition." The 2002 ruling upheld a guilty verdict on a GP for helping his 86 year old patient die, even though he was not technically ill but obsessed with his physical decline and hopeless existence (BMJ 2003;326:71).

The Dutch euthanasia law does not specifically state that a patient must have a physical or mental condition, only that a patient must . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

Being "tired of life" is not grounds for euthanasia

Tony Sheldon
BMJ 2003 326: 71. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Bosshard, G, Broeckaert, B, Clark, D, Materstvedt, L J, Gordijn, B, Muller-Busch, H C (2008). A role for doctors in assisted dying? An analysis of legal regulations and medical professional positions in six European countries. J. Med. Ethics 34: 28-32 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Richardson, S., McMullan, M. (2007). Research Ethics in the UK: What Can Sociology Learn from Health?. Sociology 41: 1115-1132 [Abstract]  
• National Ethics Committee, Veterans Health Adminis, (2007). The Ethics of Palliative Sedation as a Therapy of Last Resort. AM J HOSP PALLIAT CARE 23: 483-491 [Abstract]  
• Lo, B., Rubenfeld, G. (2005). Palliative Sedation in Dying Patients: "We Turn to It When Everything Else Hasn't Worked". JAMA 294: 1810-1816 [Abstract] [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

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Dutch "euthanasia law" applies to physicians, not patients

Mira de Vries
bmj.com, 7 Jan 2005 [Full text]