Commonalities and differences in legal euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in three countries: a population-level comparison

Sigrid Dierickx; Bregje Onwuteaka-Philipsen; Yolanda Penders; Joachim Cohen; Agnes van der Heide; Milo A Puhan; Sarah Ziegler; Georg Bosshard; Luc Deliens; Kenneth Chambaere

doi:10.1007/s00038-019-01281-6

Commonalities and differences in legal euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in three countries: a population-level comparison

Sigrid Dierickx, Bregje Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Yolanda Penders, Joachim Cohen, Agnes van der Heide, Milo A Puhan, Sarah Ziegler, Georg Bosshard, Luc Deliens, Kenneth Chambaere

Careum School of Health

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

OBJECTIVES To describe and compare euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) practice in Flanders, Belgium (BE), the Netherlands (NL) and Switzerland (CH). METHODS Mortality follow-back surveys among attending physicians of a random sample of death certificates. RESULTS We studied 349 EAS deaths in BE (4.6, 851 in NL (4.6 and 65 in CH (1.4. People who died by EAS were mostly aged 65 or older (BE: 81 NL: 77 71 and were mostly diagnosed with cancer (BE: 57 66. Home was the most common place of death in NL (79, while in BE and CH, more variation was found regarding to place of death. The decision to perform EAS was more frequently discussed with a colleague physician in BE (93 and NL (90 than in CH (60. CONCLUSIONS EAS practice characteristics vary considerably in the studied countries with legal EAS. In addition to the legal context, cultural factors as well as the manner in which legislation is implemented play a role in how EAS legislation translates into practice.

Original language	German
Pages (from-to)	65-73
Number of pages	9
Journal	International Journal of Public Health
Volume	65
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-019-01281-6
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2020

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Cite this

Dierickx, S., Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B., Penders, Y., Cohen, J., Heide, A. V. D., Puhan, M. A., Ziegler, S., Bosshard, G., Deliens, L., & Chambaere, K. (2020). Commonalities and differences in legal euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in three countries: a population-level comparison. International Journal of Public Health, 65(1), 65-73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-019-01281-6

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title = "Commonalities and differences in legal euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in three countries: a population-level comparison",

abstract = "OBJECTIVES To describe and compare euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) practice in Flanders, Belgium (BE), the Netherlands (NL) and Switzerland (CH). METHODS Mortality follow-back surveys among attending physicians of a random sample of death certificates. RESULTS We studied 349 EAS deaths in BE (4.6, 851 in NL (4.6 and 65 in CH (1.4. People who died by EAS were mostly aged 65 or older (BE: 81 NL: 77 71 and were mostly diagnosed with cancer (BE: 57 66. Home was the most common place of death in NL (79, while in BE and CH, more variation was found regarding to place of death. The decision to perform EAS was more frequently discussed with a colleague physician in BE (93 and NL (90 than in CH (60. CONCLUSIONS EAS practice characteristics vary considerably in the studied countries with legal EAS. In addition to the legal context, cultural factors as well as the manner in which legislation is implemented play a role in how EAS legislation translates into practice.",

author = "Sigrid Dierickx and Bregje Onwuteaka-Philipsen and Yolanda Penders and Joachim Cohen and Heide, {Agnes van der} and Puhan, {Milo A} and Sarah Ziegler and Georg Bosshard and Luc Deliens and Kenneth Chambaere",

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Dierickx, S, Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B, Penders, Y, Cohen, J, Heide, AVD, Puhan, MA, Ziegler, S, Bosshard, G, Deliens, L & Chambaere, K 2020, 'Commonalities and differences in legal euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in three countries: a population-level comparison', International Journal of Public Health, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 65-73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-019-01281-6

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T1 - Commonalities and differences in legal euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in three countries: a population-level comparison

AU - Dierickx, Sigrid

AU - Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje

AU - Penders, Yolanda

AU - Cohen, Joachim

AU - Heide, Agnes van der

AU - Puhan, Milo A

AU - Ziegler, Sarah

AU - Bosshard, Georg

AU - Deliens, Luc

AU - Chambaere, Kenneth

PY - 2020/1/1

Y1 - 2020/1/1

N2 - OBJECTIVES To describe and compare euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) practice in Flanders, Belgium (BE), the Netherlands (NL) and Switzerland (CH). METHODS Mortality follow-back surveys among attending physicians of a random sample of death certificates. RESULTS We studied 349 EAS deaths in BE (4.6, 851 in NL (4.6 and 65 in CH (1.4. People who died by EAS were mostly aged 65 or older (BE: 81 NL: 77 71 and were mostly diagnosed with cancer (BE: 57 66. Home was the most common place of death in NL (79, while in BE and CH, more variation was found regarding to place of death. The decision to perform EAS was more frequently discussed with a colleague physician in BE (93 and NL (90 than in CH (60. CONCLUSIONS EAS practice characteristics vary considerably in the studied countries with legal EAS. In addition to the legal context, cultural factors as well as the manner in which legislation is implemented play a role in how EAS legislation translates into practice.

AB - OBJECTIVES To describe and compare euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) practice in Flanders, Belgium (BE), the Netherlands (NL) and Switzerland (CH). METHODS Mortality follow-back surveys among attending physicians of a random sample of death certificates. RESULTS We studied 349 EAS deaths in BE (4.6, 851 in NL (4.6 and 65 in CH (1.4. People who died by EAS were mostly aged 65 or older (BE: 81 NL: 77 71 and were mostly diagnosed with cancer (BE: 57 66. Home was the most common place of death in NL (79, while in BE and CH, more variation was found regarding to place of death. The decision to perform EAS was more frequently discussed with a colleague physician in BE (93 and NL (90 than in CH (60. CONCLUSIONS EAS practice characteristics vary considerably in the studied countries with legal EAS. In addition to the legal context, cultural factors as well as the manner in which legislation is implemented play a role in how EAS legislation translates into practice.

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