The ongoing discussion on termination of life on request. A review from a German/European perspective.

CONCLUSIONS: Experience from the Netherlands shows that widening criteria for EAS has problematic consequences. KEY POINTS Termination of life on request, which a subgroup of people support, is a matter of ongoing debate. Because of several problematic aspects, including ethical considerations, only a few countries in the world allow active euthanasia or assisted suicide. Even if euthanasia is well regulated, legalising it can have problematic consequences that are difficult to control, such as an unwanted excessive increase in euthanasia cases. The well-documented experiences with the euthanasia law in the Netherlands serve as an example of what is to be expected when euthanasia is legalised. We need to pay close attention to the relationship between suicide and suicide prevention on the one hand and euthanasia acts and promotion of euthanasia on the other. Further ethical, psychological and legal research is needed. In particular, the role of palliative medicine in societies' approach to end-of-life care must be explored in much more detail. PMID: 32729770 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract Source Type: research