Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Netherlands

For 2 decades, both physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia have been given legal sanction in the Netherlands. In response to domestic and international concern about their policies, the Dutch government appointed a commission that oversaw a study of the practice of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in 1990.1That study, which was largely replicated in a 1995 study, was supported by the Royal Dutch Medical Association with the promise that physicians who participated would receive immunity from prosecution for anything they revealed. See also p 1705. In 1996, the investigators published a report of their new findings in Dutch2and summarized their work in 2 articles in theNew England Journal of Medicine,3,4which was supported by an editorial in that journal.5These reports have given a favorable interpretation to what could be seen as evidence of little or no improvement by declaring that since matters have not