Physician assisted deaths: no "slippery slope" in the Netherlands or Oregon

doi:10.1136/bmj.334.7602.1029-c

BMJ 2007;334:1029 (19 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.334.7602.1029-c

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Physician assisted deaths: no "slippery slope" in the Netherlands or Oregon

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Rates of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide have fallenslightly since they were legalised in the Netherlands in 2002.In 2005, euthanasia accounted for 1.7% of deaths in the Netherlands,down from 2.6% in 2001 (P<0.05), according to a nationwidesurvey of doctors. Physician assisted suicides accounted for0.1% of deaths, down from 0.2% in 2001 (P<0.05)

. Of the 9965deceased patients studied, 8.2% were continuously and deeplysedated before death.

Doctors—most often general practitioners—chose neuromuscularrelaxants as the lethal agent in almost two thirds of casesof euthanasia in 2005, opioids in about a fifth, and barbituratesin a 10th. Respondents reported 80.1% of all cases to the authoritiesin 2005, up from 54% in 2001. The survey had a response of 77.8%(5342/6860).

Physician assisted deaths are clearly not on a "slippery slope"in the Netherlands, writes one commentator from the US (pp 1911-13).The situation is similarly stable in the US state of Oregonwhere one in 1000 deaths is now officially physician assisted.Oregon is the only state to allow doctors to help patients endtheir own lives, though euthanasia remains illegal.