Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide

In the Netherlands there are about 9700 explicit requests for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide (EAS) each year, of which approximately 3600 ar e granted. Other countries have criticized the Dutch policy concerning EAS. It has been suggested that palliative care in the Netherlands is not adequ ate and that euthanasia is often requested by patients with depression. In addition, this criticism is partly based on the firm stance that 'human lif e has an absolute value and a human being has under no circumstances the ri ght of self-determination over his or her own life'. Many aspects of EAS ar e currently the focus of attention in the literature. In this review the fo llowing aspects of EAS are discussed: ethics, judicial questions, the relat ionship between depression and euthanasia, and the impact of EAS on members of the family. Also, the current situation concerning EAS in the Netherlan ds is summarized and described. Despite the fact that EAS have been widely discussed in the literature, the association between depression and the num ber of requests for EAS remains to be discovered. It is also not yet known what the effects of EAS are on members of the family, and whether unnatural death causes a higher incidence of complicated grief.