EUTHANASIA IN FAMILY-PRACTICE IN THE NETHERLANDS - TOWARD A BETTER UNDERSTANDING

OBJECTIVE To describe the incidence of euthanasia and assisted suicide in family practice in the Netherlands, the reasons for its practice, and the characteristics of patients and physicians involved. DESIGN Cr oss-sectional survey of a random sample of Dutch family physicians. SE TTING General practices in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS An anonymous questionnaire was mailed to 1042 general practitioners. Of the 996 eli gible physicians, 667 (67%) completed the questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Reported practices and beliefs concerning euthanasia and assi sted suicide. RESULTS In the course of an average year, 24% of Dutch f amily physicians had practised euthanasia or assisted suicide. Most de aths took place at home in the presence of others. According to the ph ysicians, the most important reasons for the request were futile suffe ring, fear or avoidance of loss of dignity, and unbearable suffering. Euthanasia or assisted suicide was mostly (85%) administered to patien ts with malignant neoplasms. Physicians were more opposed to euthanasi a and assisted suicide if they had never practised it, if they had a r eligious affiliation, and if they were older. CONCLUSIONS This study p resents empiric data about euthanasia and assisted suicide in the cont ext of a permissive euthanasia policy. Understanding Dutch practices c ould be helpful for Canadians. However, each country needs to resolve these issues in its own way.