Physician-Assisted Death in Perspective

by Youngner, Stuart J.; Kimsma, Gerrit K.

• ISBN13: 9781107007567
• ISBN10: 1107007569
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-07-30
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

This book is the first comprehensive report and analysis of the Dutch euthanasia experience over the last three decades. In contrast to most books about euthanasia, which are written by authors from countries where the practice is illegal and therefore practised only secretly, this book analyzes empirical data and real-life clinical behavior. Its essays were written by the leading Dutch scholars and clinicians who shaped euthanasia policy and who have studied, evaluated and helped regulate it. Some of them have themselves practised euthanasia. The book will contribute to the world literature on physician-assisted death by providing a comprehensive examination of how euthanasia has been practised and how it has evolved in one specific national and cultural context. It will greatly advance the understanding of euthanasia among both advocates and opponents of the practice.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Background and History

The lateness of the Dutch euthanasia debate and its consequences

Classifications and definitions: Dutch developments

The legalization of euthanasia in the Netherlands: revolutionary normality

The normative context of the Dutch euthanasia law

Dutch social groups on euthanasia: the political spectrum on ending life on request

The Dutch social fabric: health care, trust, and solidarity

Regulation and Practice Deficiencies

The unreported cases

Physician-assistance in dying without an explicit request by the patient

When requests do not result in euthanasia or assisted suicide

Dutch euthanasia in retrospect

Quality Assurance

Euthanasia consultants: professional assessment before euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands

Reviews after the act: the role and the work of regional euthanasia review committees

Palliative care and physician-assisted death

Learning from the Practice

Unbearable suffering and advanced dementia: the moral problems of advance directives for euthanasia

Decision making capacity in patients who are in the early stage of Alzheimer's disease and who request physician-assisted suicide

Being 'weary of life' as cause for seeking euthanasia of physician-assisted suicide

Shared obligations and 'medical friendships' in assisted dying: moral and psychological repercussions reconsidered

Depression, euthanasia and assisted suicide

End-of-life decisions in children and newborns in the Netherlands

Hastening death through voluntary cessation of eating and drinking: a survey

The Challenge of Unbearable Suffering

The subjectivity of suffering and the normativity of unbearableness

Assessment of unbearable and hopeless suffering in evaluating a request to end life

Overview

The regulation of euthanasia: how successful is the Dutch system?

No regrets

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