TY - JOUR
T1 - Commonalities and differences in legal euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in three countries: a population-level comparison
AU - Dierickx, Sigrid
AU - Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje
AU - Penders, Yolanda
AU - Cohen, Joachim
AU - van der Heide, Agnes
AU - Puhan, Milo A.
AU - Ziegler, Sarah
AU - Bosshard, Georg
AU - Deliens, Luc
AU - Chambaere, Kenneth
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - Objectives: To describe and compare euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) practice in Flanders, Belgium (BE), the Netherlands (NL) and Switzerland (CH). Methods: Mortality follow-back surveys among attending physicians of a random sample of death certificates. Results: We studied 349 EAS deaths in BE (4.6% of all deaths), 851 in NL (4.6% of all deaths) and 65 in CH (1.4% of all deaths). People who died by EAS were mostly aged 65 or older (BE: 81%, NL: 77% and CH: 71%) and were mostly diagnosed with cancer (BE: 57% and NL: 66%). Home was the most common place of death in NL (79%), while in BE and CH, more variation was found regarding to place of death. The decision to perform EAS was more frequently discussed with a colleague physician in BE (93%) and NL (90%) than in CH (60%). Conclusions: EAS practice characteristics vary considerably in the studied countries with legal EAS. In addition to the legal context, cultural factors as well as the manner in which legislation is implemented play a role in how EAS legislation translates into practice.
AB - Objectives: To describe and compare euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) practice in Flanders, Belgium (BE), the Netherlands (NL) and Switzerland (CH). Methods: Mortality follow-back surveys among attending physicians of a random sample of death certificates. Results: We studied 349 EAS deaths in BE (4.6% of all deaths), 851 in NL (4.6% of all deaths) and 65 in CH (1.4% of all deaths). People who died by EAS were mostly aged 65 or older (BE: 81%, NL: 77% and CH: 71%) and were mostly diagnosed with cancer (BE: 57% and NL: 66%). Home was the most common place of death in NL (79%), while in BE and CH, more variation was found regarding to place of death. The decision to perform EAS was more frequently discussed with a colleague physician in BE (93%) and NL (90%) than in CH (60%). Conclusions: EAS practice characteristics vary considerably in the studied countries with legal EAS. In addition to the legal context, cultural factors as well as the manner in which legislation is implemented play a role in how EAS legislation translates into practice.
KW - Belgium
KW - End-of-life decision-making
KW - Euthanasia
KW - Physician-assisted suicide
KW - Switzerland
KW - The Netherlands
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85069662651&origin=inward
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31297558
U2 - 10.1007/s00038-019-01281-6
DO - 10.1007/s00038-019-01281-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 31297558
VL - 65
SP - 65
EP - 73
JO - International Journal of Public Health
JF - International Journal of Public Health
SN - 1661-8556
IS - 1
ER -