Published 14 September 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3685
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3685

Letters

End of life decisions

Doctors can be trusted

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

Van den Block and colleagues’ survey in Belgium found that high use of palliative care is associated with more medical decisions to hasten death.¹ This may be because the quality of palliative care is insufficient or because palliative care is limited in addressing suffering at the end of life.

Byock states that proponents of legalising euthanasia and physician assisted suicide and right to life advocates share "a deep distrust of doctors and the institutions in which they practice."² This claim cannot be universally upheld. The system that legally allows physician assistance in dying in the Netherlands is rightly based on trust in doctors, as proved by the regular monitoring of their actions.^{3 4}

Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3685

¹ Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands

---

Competing interests: None declared.

1. Van den Block L, Deschepper R, Bilsen J, Bossuyt N, Van Casteren V, Deliens L. Euthanasia and other end-of-life decisions and care provided in the last three months of life: nationwide retrospective study in Belgium. BMJ 2009;339:b2772. (30 July.)[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Byock I. End of life decisions and quality of care before death. BMJ 2009;339:b2730. (30 July.)[Free Full Text]
3. Van der Heide A, Onwuteaka-Philipsen BD, Rurup ML, Buiting HM, van Delden JJM, Hanssen-de Wolf JE, et al. End-of-life practices in the Netherlands under the Euthanasia Act. N Engl J Med 2007;356:1957-65.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
4. Regionale toetsingscommissies euthanasie. Jaarverslag 2008. [Annual report 2008 of the euthanasia review committees.]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

End of life decisions and quality of care before death

Ira Byock
BMJ 2009 339: b2730. [Extract] [Full Text]

Euthanasia and other end of life decisions and care provided in final three months of life: nationwide retrospective study in Belgium

Lieve Van den Block, Reginald Deschepper, Johan Bilsen, Nathalie Bossuyt, Viviane Van Casteren, and Luc Deliens
BMJ 2009 339: b2772. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Online poll

Find out more here>> and here>>