Refused and granted requests for euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands: interview study with structured questionnaire

摘要

In 1995, physicians in the Netherlands received 9700 explicit requests for euthanasia or physician assisted suicide, of which 37% were granted and carried out. Among the remaining requests, about half were refused by the physician; in the rest of the cases either the patient died before a decision had been reached or the physician's promise of help could be effected, or the patient withdrew the request. Knowledge of specific characteristics of refused and granted requests for euthanasia or physician assisted suicide may give insight into physicians' decision making and into the role of criteria for prudent practice. We therefore compared the characteristics of refused and granted requests.