No increase in euthanasia after legalization

Legalization of euthanasia without effect on deaths

07/13/2012

Researchers evaluated euthanasia cases in the Netherlands and found that legalization did not increase active euthanasia and assisted suicide. The scientists around Prof. Bregje Onwuteaka-Philipsen from the University Medical Center Amsterdam, analyzed the development of euthanasia in the Netherlands from 1990 to 2010.

Since 2002, active euthanasia has been allowed in the Netherlands. The researchers at the University Hospitals Rotterdam, Utrecht and Amsterdam have now assessed in a comprehensive study how the legalization of euthanasia has affected the actual cases of active euthanasia. Their results are published by Prof. Onwuteaka-Philipsen and colleagues in the British magazine "The Lancet".

After legalization, initially slight decline in euthanasia cases
Using the figures from the national death registers of 1990, 1995, 2001, 2005 and 2010 on the deaths and causes in the Netherlands, the researchers were able to draw conclusions about the impact of the legalization of euthanasia. They also interviewed the physicians involved in these deaths and weighted them by age, gender, marital status, location, cause, and place of death. According to the scientists, the proportion of cases of active euthanasia and assisted suicide in the investigated deaths "in the Netherlands in 2010 was 2.8 percent (475 out of 6,861)." Although this was a significant increase compared to 2005, However, the level remains at about the level of 2001 and 1995, write Prof. Onwuteaka-Philipsen and colleagues in their article.

Important contribution to the debate on euthanasia
The researchers found a very positive trend in the cases in which the lives of patients without their explicit request for euthanasia took place. In 2010, these extremely critical events accounted for only 0.2 percent of the deaths surveyed (13 out of 6,861), which represents only a quarter of cases (0.8 percent and 45 out of 5,197, respectively) before legalization. The study's findings may also help reassure euthanasia critics who believed that legalization would kill more patients without their explicit consent. In addition, today no more people die from euthanasia or medically assisted suicide than in the 1990s, the researchers report. However, in 2010 only 77 percent (3,136 out of 4,050) of all cases were submitted to the Review Committee, so that there is a relatively large number of unreported cases. Overall, however, the current study gives a good "insight into the consequences of the regulation of euthanasia and assisted suicide", with the euthanasia law in the Netherlands leading to a relatively transparent practice, report Prof. Onwuteaka-Philipsen and colleagues. "Although the results are not easily transferable to other countries," they provide important information for "the debate on the legalization of euthanasia," concludes the Dutch researchers.

Euthanasia in the Niederladen since 2002 legal
The Netherlands was the first country in the world to pass an euthanasia law in 2002, which has since become the legal basis for euthanasia and assisted suicide. According to this, euthanasia and medical help for suicide are not punishable if patients have a hopeless illness, are suffering unbearably and have explicitly requested euthanasia several times. However, before euthanasia, a second doctor must be called in and every case must be reported to regional examination committees. In addition, professional euthanasia teams have been on the road since March 2012 to support the seriously ill and tired of life on their way to the hereafter. Here the criticism seems that a business is made with death and the transition from life crises to the end of life blurs, but quite worth considering.

Standstill of German legislation on euthanasia
Unlike in the Netherlands, lawmakers in Germany have been struggling to deal with euthanasia for years. The process around the cancer doctor Mechthild Bach from Hanover caused a special sensation in this country. Bach was accused of killing thirteen patients. Although she always denied the allegation, there was a quick talk of euthanasia for the seriously ill patients. When the court, after about eight years of proceedings, suggested that the conviction could amount to murder instead of manslaughter, the defendant took his life shortly thereafter. The discussion about the legal handling of euthanasia was by no means over.

Critics warn against commercial interest in connection with euthanasia
Not only the active euthanasia but also the assisted suicide remains forbidden in this country, even if the latter remains unpunished according to the law. In addition, the German Medical Association had last decided that medical assisted suicides are not allowed by profession. The opponents of euthanasia can also cite good reasons why, in their opinion, euthanasia should continue to be prohibited. They warn against commercial interests that could cause physicians to urge patients toward euthanasia. For example, a case in Belgium in which a 43-year-old woman had a stroke about a year after having been stunted, although her impairments with impaired vision and general need for care remained relatively moderate, had caused quite a stir. For as the "ZEIT" reported, the patient also donated her organs, which were taken immediately after euthanasia. (Fp)

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