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Dutch Euthanasia: Background, Practice, and Present Justifications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2009

G. K. Kimsma  and
E. Van Leeuwen
G. K. Kimsma
Affiliation:
Free University of Amsterdam
E. Van Leeuwen
Affiliation:
Medicine of the Free University of Amsterdam
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Extract

Dutch developments on euthanasia have drawn much attention over the years. Defenders and opponents have been telling very different stories about the practice of euthanasia and the frequency of cases, and the Dutch government has been struggling with the legal and moral problems involved. Concern about the procedures followed by physicians as well as questions on the “real” figures led the government to decide to organize an epidemiological study on the extent and the decision making. The results of the study were published in November 1991 (The End of Life in Medical Practice, 1991). Interpretation of the data may lead to a final settlement of the debate on euthanasia and has inevitably led to a revival of the moral debate of the 1970s. For the moment it has been decided that euthanasia will remain officially illegal under the Penal Code. However, in cases where euthanasia does occur, Attorneys General will continue to check the procedures followed by physicians to ensure no abuses have occurred and to safeguard physicians against prosecution. In this contribution, we discuss the development and intertwinement of legal, medical, and moral aspects of euthanasia in The Netherlands and the effects of the empirical studies of 1991, both on definitions and procedures for medical decisions at the end of life(MDEL)

Type
Special Section: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Murder or Mercy?
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , Winter 1993 , pp. 19 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

Notes

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