Palliative care ethics: The problems of combining palliation and assisted dying

The performing of euthanasia is now offered as an option by certain palliative care service institutions in Belgium. The approach is known as the ‘integral’ model. Although it is understandable that some physicians are in favour of it, the model is rejected in this article, for both clinical and ethical reasons. Furthermore, the idea of ‘palliative futility’ associated with the model is shown to be incoherent. In countries where assisted dying is legal, palliative care providers should refrain from participating in such practices if they are to remain true to the basic values of such care. The widespread conception that withholding and withdrawing treatment amounts to a ‘hastening’ of death is also rejected.