research
End-of-life decisions in medicine : emperical studies on practice and attitudes in the Netherlands
- Publication date
- 6 February 2002
- Publisher
- The role of psychiatrists in end-of-life decision-making will be described in
Chapters 2 to 4 (part II). Chapter 2 deals with the experience of Dutch
psychiatrists with requests for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide made by
patients under their treatment. Chapter 3 examines psychiatric consultation with
regard to patients' requests for euthanasia or assisted suicide in more detail. The
frequency with which psychiatrists are asked for consultation with regard to a
patient's request for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide is explored, as well as
the content and implications of such consultation. In Chapter 4, the attitudes of
Dutch psychiatrists towards physician-assisted death in psychiatric patients are
further explored, and related to their specific characteristics.
The use of potentially life-shortening drugs at the end of life is dealt with in
Chapters 5 to 8 (part III), In Chapter 5, an overview of the knowledge of potentially
life-shortening drugs is given in a review study. Chapter 6 presents an overview of
all potentially life-shortening drugs that are used in the broad range of end-of-life
decisions in medicine.
