Rights statement: This is the final draft, after peer-review, of a manuscript published in RSM journals: www.rsmpress.com.
Accepted author manuscript, 461 KB, PDF document
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Physician assisted dying outlaws : self-appointed death in the Netherlands.
AU - Ost, Suzanne
N1 - This is the final draft, after peer-review, of a manuscript published in RSM journals: www.rsmpress.com.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - No law in any jurisdiction that permits physician assisted dying offers individuals a medically assisted death without the need to comply with certain criteria. The Netherlands is no exception. There is evidence to suggest that physicians are averse to providing an assisted death even when the Dutch ‘due care criteria’ have been met and the unbearable suffering requirement is especially difficult to satisfy. Some individuals with an enduring desire to die who do not meet the ‘due care’ criteria under the Dutch legislation turn to other means of achieving a self-appointed death. This paper explores two alternative methods of securing a self-determined death (an assisted death involving lay assistors or a self-hastened death by stopping eating and drinking), and raises the question of how far the law should recognise autonomy in the context of physician assisted death.
AB - No law in any jurisdiction that permits physician assisted dying offers individuals a medically assisted death without the need to comply with certain criteria. The Netherlands is no exception. There is evidence to suggest that physicians are averse to providing an assisted death even when the Dutch ‘due care criteria’ have been met and the unbearable suffering requirement is especially difficult to satisfy. Some individuals with an enduring desire to die who do not meet the ‘due care’ criteria under the Dutch legislation turn to other means of achieving a self-appointed death. This paper explores two alternative methods of securing a self-determined death (an assisted death involving lay assistors or a self-hastened death by stopping eating and drinking), and raises the question of how far the law should recognise autonomy in the context of physician assisted death.
KW - assisted dying
KW - euthanasia
KW - assisted suicide
KW - Netherlands
KW - lay-assistors
KW - tired of life
KW - existential suffering
U2 - 10.1258/ce.2011.011004
DO - 10.1258/ce.2011.011004
M3 - Journal article
VL - 6
SP - 20
EP - 26
JO - Clinical Ethics
JF - Clinical Ethics
SN - 1758-101X
IS - 1
ER -