Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Netherlands
Lessons From the Dutch
- Herbert Hendin, MD;
- Chris Rutenfrans, PhD;
- Zbigniew Zylicz, MD
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
For 2 decades, both physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia have been given legal sanction in the Netherlands. In response to domestic and international concern about their policies, the Dutch government appointed a commission that oversaw a study of the practice of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in 1990.1 That study, which was largely replicated in a 1995 study, was supported by the Royal Dutch Medical Association with the promise that physicians who participated would receive immunity from prosecution for anything they revealed.
See also p 1705.
In 1996, the investigators published a report of their new findings in Dutch2 and summarized their work in 2 articles in theNew England Journal of Medicine,3,4 which was supported by an editorial in that journal.5 These reports have given a favorable interpretation to what could be seen as evidence of little or no improvement by declaring that since matters have not
Footnotes
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Reprints: Herbert Hendin, MD, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 120 Wall St, New York, NY 10005.
