Euthanasia is used in 4.5 per cent of all deaths in the Netherlands, 15 years after legalisation
Some 92 per cent of euthanasia cases involved seriously ill patients - but the number who were not terminally ill has been growing
Euthanasia has become “common practice” in the Netherlands, accounting for 4.5 per cent of deaths, according to researchers who say requests are increasing from people who aren’t terminally ill.
In 2002, the Netherlands became the first country in the world that made it legal for doctors to help people die. Both euthanasia, where doctors actively kill patients, and assisted suicide, where physicians prescribe patients a lethal dose of drugs, are allowed. People must be “suffering unbearably” with no hope of relief — but their condition does not have to be fatal.
“It looks like patients are now more willing to ask for euthanasia and physicians are more willing to grant it,” said lead author Dr Agnes van der Heide of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam.
The review shows that in 1990, before it was legal, 1.7 per cent of deaths were from euthanasia or assisted suicide. That rose to 4.5 per cent by 2015. The vast majority — 92 per cent — had serious illness and the rest had health problems from old age, early-stage dementia or psychiatric problems or a combination. More than a third of those who died were over 80.
Requests from those who aren’t terminally ill still represents a small share, but have been increasing, Van der Heide said.
“When assisted dying is becoming the more normal option at the end of life, there is a risk people will feel more inclined to ask for it,” she said.