IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v122y2018i3p315-319.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Extending’ euthanasia to those ‘tired of living’ in the Netherlands could jeopardize a well-functioning practice of physicians’ assessment of a patient's request for death

Author

Listed:
  • Florijn, Barend W.

Abstract

The Dutch Euthanasia Act (EA) took effect in 2002 and regulates the ending of one’s life by a physician at the request of a patient who is suffering unbearably. According to the Dutch Supreme Court, unbearable suffering is a state for which the presence of a medical condition is a strict prerequisite. As a consequence, the Dutch EA has attributed the assessment of unbearable suffering to physicians who evaluate the presence of a medical classifiable disorder. Currently, a debate within the Netherlands questions whether older people, without a medical condition, who value their life as completed, should be granted euthanasia. To concede the autonomy of such a person, the Dutch government intends to create a separate legal framework that regulates this tired of living euthanasia request. This debate is crucial for policy-makers and an international audience because it discusses if a self-directed death of older people, should be implemented in (the current Dutch) euthanasia practice. However, this article argues that the current legal proposal that regulates the tired of living euthanasia request ignores crucial jurisprudence on physicians’ application of the unbearable suffering criterion in practice. Furthermore it points out that this proposal neglects physicians role in guaranteeing a euthanasia practice of due care and that its use of an ethic of absolute autonomy could jeopardize this well-established practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Florijn, Barend W., 2018. "Extending’ euthanasia to those ‘tired of living’ in the Netherlands could jeopardize a well-functioning practice of physicians’ assessment of a patient's request for death," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 315-319.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:122:y:2018:i:3:p:315-319
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2018.01.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851018300095
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2018.01.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rurup, Mette L. & Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D. & Jansen-van der Weide, Marijke C. & van der Wal, Gerrit, 2005. "When being `tired of living' plays an important role in a request for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide: patient characteristics and the physician's decision," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 157-166, October.
    2. van Wijngaarden, Els & Leget, Carlo & Goossensen, Anne, 2015. "Ready to give up on life: The lived experience of elderly people who feel life is completed and no longer worth living," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 257-264.
    3. van Tol, Donald & Rietjens, Judith & van der Heide, Agnes, 2010. "Judgment of unbearable suffering and willingness to grant a euthanasia request by Dutch general practitioners," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(2-3), pages 166-172, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. van den Berg, Vera E & Zomers, Margot L & van Thiel, Ghislaine JMW & Leget, Carlo JW & van Delden, Johannes JM & van Wijngaarden, Els J, 2022. "Requests for euthanasia or assisted suicide of people without (severe) illness," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(8), pages 824-830.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. van den Berg, Vera E & Zomers, Margot L & van Thiel, Ghislaine JMW & Leget, Carlo JW & van Delden, Johannes JM & van Wijngaarden, Els J, 2022. "Requests for euthanasia or assisted suicide of people without (severe) illness," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(8), pages 824-830.
    2. van Tol, Donald G. & Rietjens, Judith A.C. & van der Heide, Agnes, 2012. "Empathy and the application of the ‘unbearable suffering’ criterion in Dutch euthanasia practice," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(2), pages 296-302.
    3. Stefano Poli, 2018. "Attitudes Toward Active Voluntary Euthanasia Among Community-Dwelling Older Subjects," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(1), pages 21582440177, January.
    4. van Wijngaarden, Els & Sanders, José, 2022. "‘I want to die on my own terms’: Dominant interpretative repertoires of ‘a good death’ in old age in Dutch newspapers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    5. Hanssen-de Wolf, Johanna E. & Pasman, H. Roeline W. & Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D., 2008. "How do general practitioners assess the criteria for due care for euthanasia in concrete cases?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 316-325, September.
    6. Shi Yin Chee, 2020. "COVID-19 Pandemic: The Lived Experiences of Older Adults in Aged Care Homes," Millennial Asia, , vol. 11(3), pages 299-317, December.
    7. van Wijngaarden, Els & Merzel, Michal & van den Berg, Vera & Zomers, Margot & Hartog, Iris & Leget, Carlo, 2021. "Still ready to give up on life? A longitudinal phenomenological study into wishes to die among older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    8. Małgorzata Obara-Gołębiowska & Hanna Brycz & Małgorzata Lipowska & Mariusz Lipowski, 2018. "The Role of Motivation to Reduce Obesity among Elderly People: Response to Priming Temptation in Obese Individuals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-13, February.
    9. Mrozynski, Hannah & Kuhn, Eva, 2022. "Reasoning for autonomous suicide? A qualitative approach to pre-suicidal decision-making," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    10. Fitzpatrick, Scott J. & Read, Donna & Brew, Bronwyn K. & Perkins, David, 2021. "A sociological autopsy lens on older adult suicide in rural Australia: Addressing health, psychosocial factors and care practices at the intersection of policies and institutions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:122:y:2018:i:3:p:315-319. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.