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Asking to Die: Inside the Dutch Debate about Euthanasia

  • Book
  • © 1998

Overview

Editors:
  1. David C. Thomasma

    1. Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, USA

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  2. Thomasine Kimbrough-Kushner

    1. Berkeley, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, USA

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  3. Gerrit K. Kimsma

    1. Medical Faculty, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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  4. Chris Ciesielski-Carlucci

    1. Medical Center, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

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Table of contents (42 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xx
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  2. Prologue

    1. Prologue

      Pages 1-2

  3. The Dutch Definition of Euthanasia

    1. The Dutch Definition of Euthanasia

      Pages 3-4

  4. Toward a Dutch Compromise: Perspectives from Government, Law, Medicine, and Academia

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-18
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    2. Structuring the Public Policy Debate

      1. Twenty-Five Years of Dutch Experience and Policy on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: An Overview
        • Johan Legemante
        Pages 19-34
      2. Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in the Netherlands and the USA: Comparing Practices, Justifications and Key Concepts in Bioethics and Law
        • Gerrit K. Kimsma, Evert van Leeuwen
        Pages 35-70
      3. Physician Assisted Suicide in Psychiatry: An Analysis of Case Law and Professional Opinions
        • Sjef Gevers, Johan Legemaate
        Pages 71-91
      4. The Slippery Slope: Are The Dutch Sliding Down or Are They Clambering Up?
        • John Griffiths
        Pages 93-104
      5. Teaching Euthanasia: The Integration of the Practice of Euthanasia into Grief, Death and Dying Curricula of Post-Graduate Family Medicine Training
        • Gerrit K. Kimsma, B. J. van Duin
        Pages 105-113
      6. Comparing Two Euthanasia Protocols: The Free University of Amsterdam Academic Hospital and the Medical Center of Alkmaar
        • Gerrit K. Kimsma, Evert van Leeuwen
        Pages 115-133
      7. Euthanasia Drugs in the Netherlands
        • Gerrit K. Kimsma
        Pages 135-147
      8. Empirical Research on Euthanasia and Other Medical End-of-Life Decisions and the Euthanasia Notification Procedure
        • Gerrit van der Wal, P. J. van der Maas
        Pages 149-183

    3. Current Commentary

      1. Palliative Care: Dutch Hospice and Euthanasia
        • Zbigniew Zylicz
        Pages 187-203
      2. Euthanasia and the Power of Medicine
        • Henk ten Have
        Pages 205-220
      3. A Religious Argument in Favor of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
        • Harry Kuitert, Evert van Leeuwen
        Pages 221-226
      4. The Range of Objections to Euthanasia
        • Henk Jochemsen
        Pages 227-240
      5. Catholic Healthcare and the Dutch National Character
        • Martien A. M. Pijnenburg
        Pages 241-253

  5. Living with Euthanasia: Physicians and Families Speak for Themselves

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 255-266
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Keywords

About this book

claim was that he had faced a conflict of duties pitting his legal duty not to kill against his duty as a physician to relieve his patient’s unbearable suffering. He was acquitted on the important grounds of conflict of duty. These grounds are based on a concept in Dutch law called "force majeure" 4 which recognizes extenuating circumstances such as conflicts of duty. The acquittal was upheld by the Lower Court of Alkmaar, but revoked by an Amsterdam court of appeal. The case went on to the Supreme Court, but before the Supreme Court's decision was issued, the Royal Dutch Medical Association (RDMA) attempted to clarify the criteria for euthanasia that many within the profession already accepted. The RDMA proposed that physicians be permitted to perform euthanasia provided that a set of procedures had been met. Variously stated, the guidelines contain the following central provisions: Voluntary, competent, explicit, and persistent requests on the part of the • patient; Requests based on full information; • The patient is in a situation of intolerable and hopeless suffering (either • physical or mental); No further acceptable alternatives to euthanasia. All alternatives • acceptable to the patient for relief of suffering having been tried; Consultation with at least one other physician whose judgment can be • 5 expected to be independent. Indirectly, these guidelines became the criteria prosecutors used to decide whether or not to bring charges.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, USA

    David C. Thomasma

  • Berkeley, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, USA

    Thomasine Kimbrough-Kushner

  • Medical Faculty, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerrit K. Kimsma

  • Medical Center, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

    Chris Ciesielski-Carlucci

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Asking to Die: Inside the Dutch Debate about Euthanasia

  • Editors: David C. Thomasma, Thomasine Kimbrough-Kushner, Gerrit K. Kimsma, Chris Ciesielski-Carlucci

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-46863-6

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 1998

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-0-7923-5186-3Published: 31 October 1998

  • eBook ISBN: 978-0-306-46863-6Published: 08 April 2008

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XX, 588

  • Topics: Theory of Medicine/Bioethics, Public Health, Ethics, Political Science

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