Issues in Dutch palliative care: readjusting a distorted image

This issue presents a review of several issues in Dutch palliative care, pa ying attention to readjusting a distorted image due to the euthanasia pract ice in the Netherlands. A few articles stress the evolution of palliative c are (especially in the UK and the Netherlands), developed palliative care s ervices in the Netherlands, and new developments in the Netherlands concern ing the prevention of euthanasia through palliative care. Also the needs co ncerning palliative care for children as well as for chronic psycho-geriatr ics patients are presented. Further attention is paid to the organisation o f palliative care, focusing at evaluative research on palliative support te ams, caring for caregivers (experiences and evaluation of interventions for palliative care teams), and effects of transmural care on coordination and continuity of care. Finally, some articles focus: on ethical consideration s in the treatment of pain in hospice movement, ethical evaluation of clini cal trials in palliative care, and the role of informed consent in palliati ve radiotherapy, stressing the participation of patients and proxies in tre atment decisions. Conclusions are presented on the consequences for educati onal and counselling aspects of palliative care. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.