General Hospital Psychiatry
Volume 26, Issue 4 , Pages 323-330 , July 2004

Psychiatric consultation with regard to requests for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide

  • Johanna H Groenewoud, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +31-10-408-7721; fax: +31-10-408-9449
    • ,
  • Agnes van der Heide, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Alfons J Tholen, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Groningen, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • W.Joost Schudel, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Michiel W Hengeveld, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Bregje D Onwuteaka-Philipsen, M.Sc., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Social Medicine, Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Paul J van der Maas, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Gerrit van der Wal, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Social Medicine, Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Received 12 May 2003 ,Accepted 11 February 2004.

References 

  1. Wet van 12 april 2001, houdende toetsing van levensbeëindiging op verzoek en hulp bij zelfdoding en wijziging van het Wetboek van Strafrecht en van de Wet op de lijkbezorging (Wet toetsing levensbeëindiging op verzoek en hulp bij zelfdoding). [Review procedures of termination of life on request and assisted suicide and amendment to the Penal Code and the Burial and Cremation Act (Termination of life on request and assisted suicide (review procedures) Act]. Staatsblad. 2001;194:1–8 [in Dutch]
  2. Griffiths J, Bood A, Weyers H. Euthanasia and law in the Netherlands. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; 1998;
  3. Royal Dutch Medical Association . Vision on euthanasia. In: Royal Dutch Medical Association, editor. Euthanasia in the Netherlands. Utrecht: Royal Dutch Medical Association; 1996;p. 24–56
  4. Muskin PR. The request to die (role for a psychodynamic perspective on physician-assisted suicide). JAMA. 1998;279:323–328
  5. Hengeveld MW, Klijn FAM, Casteelen G. Actieve levensbeëindiging in het ziekenhuis (de rol van de consultatieve psychiater). Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 1996;140:1709–1712 [Active euthanasia in the hospital: the role of the consultant psychiatrist] [in Dutch]
  6. Breitbart W, Rosenfeld BD, Passik SD. Interest in physician-assisted suicide among ambulatory HIV-infected patients. Am J Psychiatry. 1996;153:238–242
  7. Emanuel E, Fairclough DL, Daniels ER, Clarridge BR. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (attitudes and experiences of oncology patients, oncologists, and the public). Lancet. 1996;347:1805–1810
  8. Block SD, Billings JA. Patient requests for euthanasia and assisted suicide in terminal illness. The role of the psychiatrist. Psychosomatics. 1995;36:445–457
  9. Conwell Y. Physician-assisted suicide (a mental health perspective). Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1994;24:326–333
  10. Block SD, Billings JA. Patient requests to hasten death. Evaluation and management in terminal care. Arch Intern Med. 1994;154:2039–2047
  11. Baile WF, DiMaggio JR, Schapira DV, Janofsky JS. The request for assistance in dying. The need for psychiatric consultation. Cancer. 1993;72:2786–2791
  12. Benrubi GI. Euthanasia—the need for procedural safeguards. N Engl J Med. 1992;326:197–199
  13. Back AL, Wallace JI, Starks HE, Pearlman RA. Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in Washington State. Patient requests and physician responses. JAMA. 1996;275:919–925
  14. Chochinov HM, Wilson KG, Enns M, et al.  Desire for death in the terminally ill. Am J Psychiatry. 1995;152:1185–1191
  15. Commissie Aanvaardbaarheid Levensbeëindigend handelen. Medisch handelen rond het levenseinde bij wilsonbekwame patiënten [Medical practices concerning the end of life of incompetent patients]. Houten/Diegem: Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum; 1997; [in Dutch]
  16. Dutch Association for Psychiatry . Hulp bij zelfdoding door patiënten met een psychiatrische stoornis; richtlijnen voor de psychiater [Assisted suicide by patients with a mental disorder; guidelines for the psychiatrist]. Utrecht: Dutch Association for Psychiatry; 1998; [in Dutch]
  17. van der Wal G, van der Maas PJ. Euthanasie en andere medische beslissingen rond het levenseinde [Euthanasia and other medical decisions concerning the end of life]. 's-Gravenhage: Sdu Uitgevers. 1996; [in Dutch]
  18. van der Maas PJ, van der Wal G, Haverkate I, et al.  Euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and other medical practices involving the end of life in the Netherlands, 1990–1995. N Engl J Med. 1996;335:1699–1705
  19. Onwuteaka-Philipsen BD, van der Wal G, Kostense PJ, van der Maas PJ. Consultation with another physician on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands. Soc Sci Med. 2000;51:429–438
  20. Groenewoud JH, van der Maas PJ, van der Wal G, et al.  Physician-assisted death in psychiatric practice in the Netherlands. N Engl J Med. 1997;336:1795–1801
  21. Meier DE, Emmons CA, Wallenstein S, Quill T, Morrison RS, Cassel CK. A national survey of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in the United States. N Engl J Med. 1998;338:1193–1201
  22. Emanuel EJ, Daniels ER, Fairclough DL, Clarridge BR. The practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the United States (adherence to proposed safeguards and effects on physicians). JAMA. 1998;280:507–513
  23. Chin AE, Hedberg K, Higginson GK, Fleming DW. Legalized physician-assisted suicide in Oregon—the first year's experience. N Engl J Med. 1999;340:577–583
  24. Oregon revised Statute 127,800 to 127,897 (The Oregon Death with Dignity Act)
  25. Griffiths J. Assisted suicide in the Netherlands (the Chabot case). Mod Law Rev. 1995;58:232–248
  26. Cohen JS, Fihn SD, Boyko EJ, Jonsen AR, Wood RW. Attitudes toward assisted suicide and euthanasia among physicians in Washington State. N Engl J Med. 1994;331:89–94
  27. Ganzini L, Fenn DS, Lee MA, Heintz RT, Bloom JD. Attitudes of Oregon psychiatrists toward physician-assisted suicide. Am J Psychiatry. 1996;153:1469–1475
  28. Huyse FJ, van Tilburg W. Euthanasia policy in the Netherlands (the role of consultation-liaison psychiatrists). Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1993;44:733–738

PII: S0163-8343(04)00037-4

doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2004.02.004

General Hospital Psychiatry
Volume 26, Issue 4 , Pages 323-330 , July 2004

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