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S P E C I A L R E P O R T S F R O M T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

Vo l u m e 3 3 5 N u m b e r 2 2 � 16

Special Reports from the Netherlands

EUTHANASIA, PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE, AND OTHER MEDICAL
PRACTICES INVOLVING THE END OF LIFE IN THE NETHERLANDS, 1990–199

PAUL J. VAN DER MAAS, M.D., PH.D., GERRIT VAN DER WAL, M.D., PH.D., ILINKA HAVERKATE, M.SC.,
CARMEN L.M. DE GRAAFF, M.A., JOHN G.C. KESTER, M.A., BREGJE D. ONWUTEAKA-PHILIPSEN, M.SC.,

AGNES VAN DER HEIDE, M.D., PH.D., JACQUELINE M. BOSMA, M.D., LL.M., AND DICK L. WILLEMS, M.D., PH.D.

ABSTRACT
Background In 1991 a new procedure for report-

ing physician-assisted deaths was introduced in the
Netherlands that led to a tripling in the number of re-
ported cases. In 1995, as part of an evaluation of this
procedure, a nationwide study of euthanasia and
other medical practices concerning the end of life
was begun that was identical to a study conducted
in 1990.
Methods We conducted two studies, the first in-

volving interviews with 405 physicians (general prac-
titioners, nursing home physicians, and clinical spe-
cialists) and the second involving questionnaires
mailed to the physicians attending 6060 deaths that
were identified from death certificates. The response
rates were 89 percent and 77 percent, respectively.
Results Among the deaths studied, 2.3 percent of

those in the interview study and 2.4 percent of those
in the death-certificate study were estimated to have
resulted from euthanasia, and 0.4 percent and 0.2
percent, respectively, resulted from physician-assist-
ed suicide. In 0.7 percent of cases, life was ended
without the explicit, concurrent request of the pa-
tient. Pain and symptoms were alleviated with doses
of opioids that may have shortened life in 14.7 to
19.1 percent of cases, and decisions to withhold or
withdraw life-prolonging treatment were made in
20.2 percent. Euthanasia seems to have increased in
incidence since 1990, and the ending of life without
the patient’s explicit request seems to have decreased
slightly. For each type of medical decision except
those in which life-prolonging treatment was with-
held or withdrawn, cancer was the most frequently
reported diagnosis.
Conclusions Since the notification procedure was

introduced, end-of-life decision making in the Neth-
erlands has changed only slightly, in an anticipated
direction. Close monitoring of such decisions is pos-
sible, and we found no signs of an unacceptable in-
crease in the number of decisions or of less careful
decision making. (N Engl J Med 1996;335:1699-705.)
©1996, Massachusetts Medical Society.

From the Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Rotterdam,
Rotterdam (P.J.M., A.H.), the Institute for Research in Extramural Medi-
cine, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam (G.W., I.H., B.D.O.-P.,
J.M.B., D.L.W.); and Statistics Netherlands, Voorburg (C.L.M.G.,
J.G.C.K.) — all in the Netherlands. Address reprint requests to Dr. van der
Maas at the Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Rotterdam,
P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

N the Netherlands, euthanasia and physician-
assisted suicide have been practiced with in-
creasing openness, although technically they
remain illegal. In 1990–1991 a nationwide

study of euthanasia and other medical practices re-
lated to the ending of life was conducted, commis-
sioned by a governmental committee chaired by
Professor Jan Remmelink, the attorney general of
the Dutch Supreme Court.1,2 The study attracted a
great deal of attention, partly because it gave the
first complete overview of medical decisions con-
cerning the end of life in a single country.

At about the same time, a new procedure for re-
porting cases of euthanasia and physician-assisted
suicide was introduced.3,4 Probably as a result, the
number of reported cases of euthanasia increased,
from 486 in 1990 to 1466 in 1995. In 1995–199

we conducted a second nationwide study, almost
identical to the first, in an evaluation of the new pro-
cedure that was commissioned by the ministers of
health and justice. The purpose of the 1995 study
was to make reliable estimates of the incidence of
euthanasia and other medical practices pertaining to
the end of life; to describe the patients, physicians,
and circumstances involved; and to evaluate changes
in these practices between 1990 and 1995. We con-
ducted two separate studies, one based on interviews
with a stratified sample of 405 physicians and the
other based on responses to mailed questionnaires
about a sample of 6060 deaths.

METHODS

The Interview Study

We interviewed a stratified random sample of 405 physicians
that included 124 general practitioners, 74 nursing home physi-
cians, and 207 physicians in five specialties (cardiology, surgery,
internal medicine, pulmonology, and neurology). Such physicians
attend 87 percent of all deaths in the Netherlands occurring in
hospitals (where about 40 percent of deaths occur) and almost all

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T h e New E n g l a n d Jo u r n a l o f Me d i c i n e

deaths outside the hospital. To be selected for the study, the phy-
sicians interviewed had to have been practicing in their registered
specialties since January 1, 1994, and to have worked at the same
institution since then. So that the desired number of 410 inter-
views could be conducted, 559 physicians were sampled. Eighty-
three did not meet the criteria for selection, and 21 others had
chronic illnesses or could not be located. Fifty physicians (11 per-
cent of those who met the selection criteria) declined to take part
in the study.

The interviews were conducted from November 1995 through
February 1996 by about 30 experienced physicians. All the inter-
viewers were trained intensively for the study. The questionnaire
used to guide the interview ran to about 120 pages, and the in-
terviews lasted 21⁄2 hours on average.

To extrapolate our findings to all deaths in the Netherlands, we
calculated weights based on the proportions of physicians of the
various types who were represented in the sample. Our estimates
of incidence were corrected for the 13 percent of in-hospital
deaths that were attended by clinicians in specialties other than
the five sampled, on the assumption that among these remaining
deaths the various types of medical decisions related to the end
of life were as frequent as in the deaths studied.

The Death-Certificate Study

The causes of death for all inhabitants of the Netherlands are
reported to Statistics Netherlands. Patients are not mentioned by
name on the cause-of-death forms, but the names of the report-
ing physicians are given. The medical officer in charge of the
cause-of-death statistics selected a stratified sample containing the
deaths occurring from August 1 through December 1, 1995.
The forms for all 43,000 deaths in this period were examined
by two physicians and assigned to one of five strata, denoted
0 through 4. When the cause of death was one in which it was
clear that no medical decision about the end of life could have
been made (for example, a car accident resulting in an instant
death), the death was assigned to stratum 0. These cases were re-
tained in the sample, but no questionnaires were sent to the phy-
sicians, because no further information was needed in order to
determine that no medical decisions about the end of life had
been involved. When the likelihood was deemed high that there
had been a medical decision that may have hastened death, the
death was assigned to stratum 4.

The final sample contained half the cases in stratum 4, 25 per-
cent of the cases in stratum 3, 12.5 percent of those in stratum
2, and 8.3 percent of those in strata 1 and 0 each. A procedure
was devised to ensure that the physicians and the deceased per-
sons would remain completely anonymous. All Dutch physicians
received a letter explaining the purpose of the study and how an-
onymity would be guaranteed. Of the 6060 questionnaires
mailed, 77 percent were returned. Nearly all were completed care-
fully, and many contained information in addition to that re-
quested.

The study questionnaire contained 24 items. In classifying the
responses in terms of the types of end-of-life medical decisions
made, we studied how the respondents answered four questions.
What did the physician do (or not do)? What was his or her in-
tention in doing so? Was the physician’s decision made at the re-
quest of the patient or after discussion with the patient? And was
the patient competent (that is, able to assess the situation and
make a decision about it adequately)?

Euthanasia was defined as the administration of drugs with the
explicit intention of ending the patient’s life, at the patient’s ex-
plicit request. Physician-assisted suicide was defined as the pre-
scription or supplying of drugs with the explicit intention of en-
abling the patient to end his or her own life (the administration
of lethal drugs by both the patient and the physician was consid-
ered to be euthanasia). The ending of life without an explicit re-
quest was defined as the administration of drugs with the explicit
intention of ending the patient’s life without a concurrent, explic-
it request by the patient. The alleviation of pain and symptoms

with opioids was defined as the administration of doses large
enough that there was a probable life-shortening effect. A deci-
sion not to treat was defined as the withholding or withdrawal of
potentially life-prolonging treatment.

In both studies the questionnaires used were almost identical
to those used in the 1990 study. The study designs were identical,
although the prospective part of the earlier study was not repeat-
ed. In the mailed questionnaires we avoided the terms euthanasia
and physician-assisted suicide, because their connotations are too
varied. Instead, we used wording that more closely described ac-
tual medical practice, permitting us to classify the answers in the
categories defined here. In the interviews, terms such as euthana-
sia and physician-assisted suicide were used, since the interviewer
would be able to discuss meanings and obtain more detailed in-
formation about the cases described. Thus, the two studies were
designed to generate complementary information, with the inter-
views producing more detailed background information and the
death-certificate study providing a strong quantitative framework.
Ninety-five percent confidence intervals were calculated that took
into account the stratification procedure and the probability of
the various types of decisions in each stratum.5

RESULTS

Incidence Estimates

The two studies yielded similar estimates of inci-
dence with regard to most of the practices studied
(Table 1). There were 34,500 requests for euthana-
sia at a later time in the course of disease, a 37 per-
cent increase from the 1990 number. There were
9700 explicit requests for euthanasia or physician-
assisted suicide at a particular time, a 9 percent in-
crease from 1990. In the interview study 2.3

percent

of all deaths resulted from euthanasia, as compared
with 2.4 percent in the death-certificate study. In
1990 the rates were 1.9 and 1.7 percent, respective-
ly. Assisted suicide occurred in 0.4 percent of deaths
in the interview study and 0.2 percent of deaths in
the death-certificate study, as compared with 0.

and 0.2 percent, respectively, in 1990. In both 1995
studies 0.7 percent of deaths involved ending the
patient’s life without the patient’s explicit, concur-
rent request. In 1990, 0.8 percent of deaths in the
death-certificate study occurred in this way.

The estimated incidence of the alleviation of pain
and symptoms with a possible shortening of life dif-
fered in the two 1995 studies, probably because in
the interviews the question was phrased somewhat
more strictly. The death-certificate study offered the
best basis for comparison with the earlier study, and
it showed no significant change since then. Deci-
sions to forgo treatment occurred in 20.2 percent of
cases, as compared with 17.9 percent in 1990. Thus,
for more than 42 percent of all deaths in the Neth-
erlands, medical decisions concerning the end of life
seem to have been made. In about 2.0 percent of all
deaths — the same figure that was reported in 1990
— the physicians’ intentions were either ambiguous
or inconsistent with their practices: in 1.4 percent of
cases, the respondents said that they had alleviated
pain and symptoms with opioids, but with the ex-
plicit intention of ending the patient’s life; and in

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Copyright © 1996 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.

S P E C I A L R E P O R T S F R O M T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

Vo l u m e 3 3 5 N u m b e r 2 2 � 1701

0.6 percent, they said that they had ended the pa-
tient’s life without the patient’s explicit request but
had only partly intended to do so.

Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide

Of the physicians interviewed, 88 percent said
they had received at least one request for euthanasia
or physician-assisted suicide at a later time in the
course of disease, whereas 77 percent had received
at least one explicit request for a particular time.
When asked if they had ever performed euthanasia
or assisted in suicide, 53 percent confirmed that they
had done so at some time, and 29 percent con-
firmed that they had done so in the preceding

months (Table 2). There were large differences
among the three types of physicians. Among those
who said they had never performed euthanasia or as-
sisted in suicide, 35 percent said they could conceive
of situations in which they would be prepared to do
so. Among the remaining 12 percent, who could
not conceive of such a situation, the majority said
that they would be prepared to refer patients to a
colleague if they requested euthanasia or assistance
in suicide. These proportions are almost identical to
those in the 1990 study.

Table 3 contains data obtained in the death-cer-
tificate study on the age, sex, and cause of death of
the deceased persons and the type of physician in-
volved. The percentage of all deaths in each category
in which an end-of-life decision was made is shown.
For instance, such a decision was made in 32 percent
of all deaths of persons under the age of 50. These
percentages do not differ greatly according to age or
sex, but they do differ according to the cause of
death: in 61 percent of all deaths from cancer, med-
ical decisions about ending the patient’s life were
made, as compared with 20 percent of all deaths
from cardiovascular disease. Patients who received

euthanasia or assistance in suicide tended to be
young. Euthanasia was more common among fe-
male patients than among male patients, a finding
not consistent with the findings in the interview study
and the 1990 study. This was one of the rare in-
stances in which the results of the interview study
and those of the death-certificate study differed. Eu-
thanasia and assisted suicide predominantly involved
patients with cancer (79 percent). In most cases a
general practitioner was involved. (In the Nether-
lands, somewhat over 40 percent of all deaths occur
at home.)

Ending Life without the Explicit Request of the Patient

Among the physicians interviewed, 23 percent
said that at some time they had ended a patient’s life
without his or her explicit request, and 32 percent
said that they had never done so but that they could
conceive of a situation in which they would, whereas
45 percent said that they had never done so and
could not conceive of any situation in which they
would. The corresponding figures in the 1990 study
were 27 percent, 32 percent, and 41 percent, respec-
tively.

The patients whose lives were ended without their
explicit request also tended to be relatively young,
and cancer was the predominant diagnosis (in the
interview study, 60 percent of all cases involved can-
cer). In 57 percent of all cases, clinical specialists
were involved. Table 4 shows some of the character-
istics of the decisions made in these cases in the
death-certificate study, the drugs administered, and
the estimated interval by which the patient’s life was
shortened. In about half of all the cases, either the
decision was discussed with the patient earlier in the
illness or the patient had expressed a wish for eutha-
nasia if suffering became unbearable. In the other
cases the patient was incompetent. In 95 percent of

*Numbers in parentheses are 95 percent confidence intervals. ND denotes not determined, because the study data did not permit these estimates to be
calculated.

†Percentages are based on the total number of deaths in the Netherlands: 135,546 in 1995 and 128,786 in 1990.

TABLE 1. ESTIMATED INCIDENCE OF MEDICAL DECISIONS RELATED TO THE END OF LIFE.*

VARIABLE INTERVIEW STUDY DEATH-CERTIFICATE STUDY

1995 1990 1995 1990

No. of requests for euthanasia or assisted
suicide later in disease

34,500 (31,800–37,100) 25,100 (23,400–27,000) ND ND

No. of explicit requests for euthanasia
or assisted suicide at a particular time

9700 (8800–10,600) 8900 (8200–9700) ND ND

End-of-life practices — % of deaths†
Euthanasia
Physician-assisted suicide
Ending of life without patient’s explicit request
Opioids in large doses
Decision to forgo treatment
All of these

2.3 (1.9–2.7)
0.4 (0.2–0.5)
0.7 (0.5–0.8)

14.7 (13.5–15.7)

ND
—

1.9 (1.6–2.2)
0.3 (0.2–0.4)

ND
16.3 (15.3–17.4)

ND
—

2.4 (2.1–2.6)
0.2 (0.1–0.3)
0.7 (0.5–0.9)

19.1 (18.1–20.1)
20.2 (19.1–21.3)
42.6 (41.3–43.9)

1.7 (1.4–2.1)
0.2 (0.1–0.3)
0.8 (0.6–1.1)

18.8 (17.9–19.9)
17.9 (17.0–18.9)
39.4 (38.1–40.7)

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T h e New E n g l a n d Jo u r n a l o f Me d i c i n e

cases, the decision was discussed with colleagues,
nursing staff, or relatives (or usually some combina-
tion of the three). In 64 percent of all cases in which
life had been ended without the patient’s explicit re-
quest, morphine was the only drug administered,
whereas in 18 percent neuromuscular relaxants were
used in various combinations. In 33 percent of cases
life was shortened by 24 hours at most, and in a fur-
ther 58 percent it was shortened by at most one
week. In the interview study the proportions were
similar to those in the death-certificate study.

Further scrutiny of the case histories in the inter-
view study showed that decisions to end life without
the patient’s request covered a wide range of situa-
tions, with a large group of patients having only a
few hours or days to live, whereas a small number
had a longer life expectancy but were evidently suf-
fering greatly, with verbal contact no longer possi-
ble. The characteristics in Table 4 suggest that most
of the cases in which life was ended without the pa-
tient’s explicit request were more similar to cases in-
volving the use of large doses of opioids than to cas-
es of euthanasia. As compared with 1990, there was
a small decrease in the proportion of these cases.

Alleviation of Pain and Other Symptoms with Possible
Life-Shortening Effects

Eighty-four percent of all respondents had at some
time sought to alleviate a patient’s pain and other
symptoms by administering opioids in such doses
that the patient’s life might have been shortened (in
1990, 82 percent reported doing so). In 85 percent
of all such cases in the death-certificate study, the

physician said that he or she had no intention of has-
tening death, but had taken into account the prob-
ability or certainty that death would occur, whereas
in the other 15 percent of cases the physician at least
partly intended to hasten the patient’s death. The
age and sex distribution of the patients in these cases
was similar to that of all persons dying in the Neth-
erlands, but more than half the cases involved can-
cer. Decisions of this type are relatively frequent
in nursing homes, where about 16 percent of all
deaths in the Netherlands occur. In 64 percent of
cases the physician estimated that the patient’s life
had been shortened by less than 24 hours, and in

percent it was shortened by less than one week (Ta-
ble 4). In 43 percent of cases the decision to admin-
ister large doses of opioids was discussed with the
patient and either an explicit request was made or, if
the patient was incompetent, there was knowledge
of a previous wish. In 86 percent of cases in which
opioids were administered and there was no infor-
mation about the patient’s wishes, the patient was
incompetent.

Decision to Forgo Treatment

Among the decisions to withhold or withdraw
life-prolonging treatment, 66 percent were made
with the intention of hastening death (or rather, of
not prolonging life); in making the remaining deci-
sions, the physician took into account the probabil-
ity or the certainty that death would be hastened. In
10 percent of cases the decision involved artificial
respiration; in 23 percent, tube feeding or artificial
hydration; and in 2 percent, dialysis. The forgoing

*Totals in each row cannot be computed directly as the weighted averages of separate entries, because the percentages
shown are based on weighted data.

TABLE 2. PHYSICIANS’ STATEMENTS IN THE 1995 INTERVIEW STUDY ABOUT THEIR PRACTICES
AND ATTITUDES WITH REGARD TO EUTHANASIA AND ASSISTED SUICIDE.*

STATED PRACTICE OR ATTITUDE

GENERAL
PRACTITIONERS

(N � 124)
CLINICAL SPECIALISTS

(N � 207)
NURSING HOME

PHYSICIANS (N � 74) ALL PHYSICIANS

1995
(N � 405)

1990
(N � 405)

percent

Performed euthanasia or
assisted suicide

Ever
During the previous 24 mo

21
3

53
29

54
24

Never performed it but
would be willing to do so
under certain conditions

28 43 64 35 34

Would never perform it but
would refer patient
seeking it to another
physician

7 15 10 9 8

Would never perform it or
refer patient

2 4 5 3 4

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of other treatments (such as medication, surgery, or
admission to the hospital for diagnostic purposes)
generally affected survival less directly. The amount
of time by which life was shortened was less than 24
hours in 42 percent of cases, less than one week in
28 percent, and over one month in 8 percent. Deci-
sions to forgo treatment differed from the other
practices studied. The patients tended to be older
and were more often female, and the distribution of
the diseases involved more or less followed the pat-
tern of the causes of all deaths in the Netherlands
(Table 3). Decisions to forgo treatment were made
relatively often by nursing home physicians.

DISCUSSION

We believe this study presents a reliable overview
of medical decisions about the end of life in the
Netherlands, one that includes developments since
1990. In almost all relevant respects, the interviews
and the mailed questionnaires yielded similar results.
Participation rates were high. Only 11 percent of
physicians declined to be interviewed, mainly for
lack of time, and in the death-certificate study the
response rate was 77 percent. All physicians in the
Netherlands received a letter signed by the president

of the Royal Dutch Medical Association and the
Chief Inspector for Health Care, explaining the im-
portance of the study and urging them to cooperate
if they were invited to participate. The data collected
could not be used in legal prosecution.

In the reports of the 1990 study, we foresaw an
increased incidence of euthanasia and the other prac-
tices examined, for several reasons — increased mor-
tality rates as a consequence of the aging of the pop-
ulation, an increase in the proportion of deaths from
cancer as a consequence of a decrease in deaths from
ischemic heart disease, the increasing availability of
life-prolonging techniques, and possibly, generation-
al and cultural changes in patients’ attitudes. At the
same time, we thought it likely that the incidence of
decisions to end life without an explicit request by
the patient would decrease, because of the growing
openness with which end-of-life decisions are dis-
cussed with patients.1,2,6

A coherent picture emerges from the present
study that confirms these expectations. Between 1990
and 1995 there were 37 percent more requests for
physician-assisted death at a later time in the course
of a patient’s disease and 9 percent more explicit re-
quests at a particular time, whereas the total number

*Provisional figures for 1995 are shown.

†Percentages shown in this column are percentages of the number of cases studied.

‡Percentages shown in these columns are percentages of the group. Because of rounding, percentages for each variable do not all total 100.

TABLE 3. DEMOGRAPHIC AND MORTALITY VARIABLES AND DATA ON THE RESPONDING PHYSICIAN’S TYPE OF PRACTICE, ACCORDING TO
THE USE OF END-OF-LIFE MEDICAL DECISIONS, IN THE DEATH-CERTIFICATE STUDY.

VARIABLE DEATHS STUDIED END-OF-LIFE DECISIONS IN 1995
ALL END-OF-LIFE

DECISIONS

ALL DEATHS IN
THE NETHERLANDS,

1995*

NO.

PERCENT

FOLLOWING

END-OF-LIFE

DECISION†

EUTHANASIA
(N � 257)

ASSISTED

SUICIDE
(N � 25)

ENDING OF
LIFE WITHOUT

EXPLICIT

REQUEST
(N � 64)

ALLEVIATION
OF PAIN WITH

OPIOIDS IN
LARGE DOSES
(N � 1161)

DECISION

TO FORGO
TREATMENT

(N � 1097)

1995
(N � 2604)

1990
(N � 2361) (N � 135,675)

percent‡

Patient’s age (yr)
0– 49 661 32 9 17 18 7 4 6 7 8
50–64 652 45 28 21 16 16 10 14 14

65–79 1792 40 43 27 31 38 31 34 36 36
�80 2041 46 19 35 36 40 55 46 43

Patient’s sex
Male 2611 39 43 61 49 50 42 46 48 50
Female 2535 47 57 39 51 50 58 54 52 50

Cause of death
Cancer 2119 61 80 78 40 54 24 41 44 27
Cardiovascular

disease
910 20 3 0 5 12 16 13 16 29

Disease of nervous
system

466 50 4 6 22 7 18 13 13

Other 1651 44 13 16 33 26 42 33 27 33
Type of physician

General practitioner 2493 34 70 97 30 41 23 34 35 —
Clinical specialist 1560 45 27 0 57 31 42 37 40 —
Nursing home

physician
929 64 2 3 14 26 32 27 24 —

Other or unknown 164 26 0 0 0 2 3 2 0 —

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T h e New E n g l a n d Jo u r n a l o f Me d i c i n e

of deaths increased by somewhat over 5 percent.
The incidence of euthanasia increased from 1.7 per-
cent to 2.4 percent in the death-certificate study,
and from 1.9 percent to 2.3 percent in the interview
study. Although variability due to sampling cannot
be ruled out as an explanation, the fact that in both
substudies almost identical increases were found
makes an artifact very unlikely. It may be surprising
that the rate of physician-assisted suicide remained
constant and low, given the general tendency toward
patient autonomy. It must be kept in mind, however,
that in the Netherlands the physician’s responsibility
in physician-assisted suicide is considered to be no
different from that in euthanasia.

The frequency of cases in which life was ended
without an explicit request by the patient has de-
creased somewhat since 1990. Here too, chance fluc-
tuation cannot be ruled out as an explanation, but
the decrease was found in both studies (the 1990 in-
terview study did not permit sufficiently reliable es-
timates of this variable, but the number of cases
then was certainly higher than in the 1995 study).
The proportion of deaths in which opioids were ad-

ministered with possible life-shortening effects re-
mained constant from 1990 to 1995, and the pro-
portion in which life-prolonging treatment was
withheld or withdrawn increased somewhat. Howev-
er, there was a shift in intentions. The proportion of
cases in which opioids were administered partly to
hasten death dropped from 20 percent to 15 per-
cent. It is very likely that a number of cases counted
in this category in 1990 would now be considered
cases of euthanasia. In the cases in which life-pro-
longing treatment was forgone there was also a shift
toward a more explicit intention to hasten death.

Data from other countries on physicians’ opinions
about euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and
their actual use of these procedures are scarce. In a
sample of U.S. oncologists, Emanuel et al. found
that 57 percent had received a request for euthanasia
or assisted death at some time, and that 14 percent
had actually engaged in those practices.7 In a sample
of general practitioners and hospital consultants in
the United Kingdom studied by Ward and Tate,
these proportions were 45 percent and 14 percent,
respectively.8 Among physicians in South Australia

*More than one answer is possible.

†Data are from the 1990 interview study; these questions were not asked in the 1990 death-certificate study.

TABLE 4. CHARACTERISTICS OF VARIOUS TYPES OF MEDICAL DECISIONS RELATED TO THE END OF LIFE
IN THE DEATH-CERTIFICATE STUDY.

CHARACTERISTIC

EUTHANASIA AND
ASSISTED SUICIDE

(N � 282)

ENDING OF
LIFE WITHOUT

EXPLICIT
REQUEST
(N � 64)

ALLEVIATION OF PAIN
WITH OPIOIDS IN
LARGE DOSES
(N � 1161)

DECISION TO
FORGO TREATMENT

(N � 1097)

ENDING OF
LIFE WITHOUT

EXPLICIT REQUEST,
1990 STUDY

(N � 45)

percent

Previous discussion of the practice
Discussed, explicit request made by patient 100 — 19 20 —
No explicit request, but discussed or wish stated — 52 24 25 60
Not discussed, no previous wish — 48 42 51 40
Unknown — — 15 5 —

Competence
Yes 97 21 37 26 37
No 3 79 47 67 54
Unknown 0 0 17 7 9

Decision discussed with others*
Colleagues 83 59 31 52 69
Nursing staff 33 65 30 47 64
Relatives or others 70 70 50 68 84
No one 4 5 16 5 2
Unknown 2 0 19 7 2

Drugs administered
Morphine only 25 64 73 — 44†
Morphine and other drugs (but not neuromuscular

relaxants)
14 17 11 — 18†

Neuromuscular relaxants (any combination) 46 18 0 — 19†
Other 12 0 2 — 19†
Unknown 2 0 15 — 0†

Amount of time by which life was shortened
�24 hr 17 33 64 42 39
1 day to 1 wk 42 58 16 28 46
�1 wk to 1 mo 32 3 3 15 6
�1 mo 9 6 1 8 8
Unknown 0 0 15 7 0

S P E C I A L R E P O R T S F R O M T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

Vo l u m e 3 3 5 N u m b e r 2 2 � 1705

studied by Stevens and Hassan, the proportions were
33 percent and 19 percent,9 and among Danish phy-
sicians studied by Folker et al. they were 30 percent
and 5 percent.10 Lee et al. found that 21 percent of
Oregon physicians had received a request for physi-
cian-assisted suicide in the past year and that 7 per-
cent had written at least one lethal prescription at a
patient’s request.11 In Washington State 12 percent
of physicians had received requests for physician-
assisted suicide and 4 percent had received a request
for euthanasia during the preceding year.12 In both
cases 24 percent of requests were granted. Although
the comparability of the studies is limited, these fig-
ures are consistently lower than those we found.

Safe Ground or Slippery Slope?

A major issue in the debate about euthanasia is
whether some form of acceptance of euthanasia or
assisted suicide when it is explicitly requested by a
greatly suffering, terminally ill, competent patient is
the first step on a slippery slope that will lead to an
unintended and undesirable increase in the number
of cases of less careful end-of-life decision making
and to the gradual social acceptance of euthanasia
performed for morally unacceptable reasons. Obvi-
ously, our data provide no conclusive evidence in ei-
ther direction. Five years may be too short a period
in which to observe important cultural changes, and
our results may be valid only in the context of Dutch
culture and the Dutch health care system, in which
virtually all of the population is insured for health
care costs and economic motives have not yet en-
tered the realm of end-of-life decision making. Nev-
ertheless, in our view, these data do not support the
idea that physicians in the Netherlands are moving
down a slippery slope.

As in 1990, a large majority of Dutch physicians
consider euthanasia an exceptional but accepted part
of medical practice.13 The number of requests for it
has increased, but most of the requests are not
granted. Physician-assisted death nowadays does not
involve patients whose illnesses are less severe, as can
be seen from our estimates of the amount of time
by which life was shortened. Finally, there are no
signs that the decision making has become less care-
ful. Indeed, the increased frequency of consultation
and better documentation of cases can be consid-
ered to indicate better decision making.4,14 The large

majority of Dutch physicians are prepared to invest
substantial time in participating in studies of this
type and to make information on this difficult area
of their practices public. As a result, further develop-
ments in end-of-life decision making can be moni-
tored closely.

Supported in part by a grant from the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and
Sports and the Dutch Ministry of Justice.

We are indebted to Johannes J.M. van Delden, M.D., Ph.D., Jo-
hanna H. Groenewoud, M.D., and Piet J. Kostense, Ph.D., for their
contributions to the study and to the manuscript; to Magda M. Hen-
ke-Kulakowska, M.D., Martien T. Muller, Ph.D., Henk Noort,
M.A., and Marjolein D. Smit, M.D., for their contributions to the
study; to Loes Pijnenborg, M.D., Ph.D., for her contribution to the
manuscript; to the members of the Steering Committee for their con-
tinuous support throughout the study; to the thousands of physicians
and public prosecutors who provided the study data; to the interview-
ers; and to the Royal Dutch Medical Association and the Chief In-
spector for Health Care for their support of the study.

REFERENCES

1. van der Maas PJ, van Delden JJM, Pijnenborg L, Looman CWN. Eu-
thanasia and other medical decisions concerning the end of life. Lancet
1991;338:669-74.
2. van der Maas PJ, van Delden JJM, Pijnenborg L. Euthanasia and other
medical decisions concerning the end of life. Health Policy 1992;22(1/2).
3. van der Wal G, Dillmann RJM. Euthanasia in the Netherlands. BMJ
1994;308:1346-9.
4. van der Wal G, van der Maas PJ, Bosma JM, et al. Evaluation of the
notification procedure for physician-assisted death in the Netherlands.
N Engl J Med 1996;335:1706-11.
5. Cochran WG. Sampling techniques. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, 1963.
6. Pijnenborg L, van der Maas PJ, van Delden JJM, Looman CWN. Life-
terminating acts without explicit request of patient. Lancet 1993;341:
1196-9.
7. Emanuel EJ, Fairclough DL, Daniels ER, Clarridge BR. Euthanasia and
physician-assisted suicide: attitudes and experiences of oncology patients,
oncologists, and the public. Lancet 1996;347:1805-10.
8. Ward BJ, Tate PA. Attitudes among NHS doctors to requests for eutha-
nasia. BMJ 1994;308:1332-4.
9. Stevens CA, Hassan R. Management of death, dying and euthanasia: at-
titudes and practices of medical practitioners in South Australia. J Med
Ethics 1994;20:41-6.
10. Folker AP, Holtug N, Jensen AB, Kappel K, Nielsen JK, Norup M. Ex-
periences and attitudes towards end-of-life decisions amongst Danish phy-
sicians. Bioethics 1996;10:233-49.
11. Lee MA, Nelson HD, Tilden VP, Ganzini L, Schmidt TA, Tolle SW.
Legalizing assisted suicide — views of physicians in Oregon. N Engl J Med
1996;334:310-5.
12. Black AL, Wallace JI, Starks HE, Pearlman RA. Physician-assisted sui-
cide and euthanasia in Washington State: patient requests and physician re-
sponses. JAMA 1996;275:919-25.
13. Position paper on euthanasia. Utrecht, the Netherlands: Royal Dutch
Medical Association, 1995.
14. van der Wal G, van der Maas PJ. Euthanasie en andere medische bes-
lissingen rond het levenseinde. The Hague, the Netherlands: Staatsuitge-
verij, 1996.

T h e New E n g l a n d Jo u r n a l o f Me d i c i n e

1706 � No ve m b e r 2 8 , 1 9 9 6

EVALUATION OF THE NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE FOR PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED
DEATH IN THE NETHERLANDS

GERRIT VAN DER WAL, M.D., PH.D., PAUL J. VAN DER MAAS, M.D., PH.D., JACQUELINE M. BOSMA, M.D., LL.M.,
BREGJE D. ONWUTEAKA-PHILIPSEN, M.SC., DICK L. WILLEMS, M.D., PH.D., ILINKA HAVERKATE, M.SC.,

AND PIET J. KOSTENSE, PH.D.

ABSTRACT
Background In the Netherlands, a notification pro-

cedure for physician-assisted death has been in use
since 1991. It requires doctors to report each case to
the coroner, who in turn notifies the public prosecu-
tor. Ultimately, the Assembly of Prosecutors General
decides whether to prosecute. Although physician-
assisted death remains technically illegal, doctors
are extremely unlikely to be prosecuted if they com-
ply with the requirements for accepted practice. In
1995, the ministers of health and justice commis-
sioned an evaluation to determine the adequacy of
the notification procedure.
Methods A random sample of 405 physicians were

interviewed. We also interviewed 147 physicians who
had reported cases of physician-assisted death and
116 coroners, and we reviewed 353 judicial files of re-
ported cases. In addition, we interviewed 48 public
prosecutors and reviewed the minutes of the Assem-
bly of Prosecutors General for 1991 to 1995 and all
published court decisions from 1981 through 1995.
Results In 1995, about 41 percent of all cases of

euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide were re-
ported. There were no major differences between re-
ported and unreported cases in terms of the pa-
tients’ characteristics, clinical conditions, or reasons
for the action. Most patients had cancer and were
described as suffering “unbearably” and “hopeless-
ly.” Of the 6324 cases reported during the period
from 1991 through 1995, only 13 involved prosecu-
tion of the physician. The majority of respondents in
the groups interviewed thought that all cases of phy-
sician-assisted death should be reviewed, although
most doctors thought the review should be per-
formed by other doctors, and there was substantial
concern about the burden associated with the re-
porting procedure.
Conclusions Substantial progress in the oversight

of physician-assisted death has been achieved in the
Netherlands. The reporting procedure could be more
streamlined and less threatening. (N Engl J Med
1996;335:1706-11.)
©1996, Massachusetts Medical Society.

From the Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine (G.W., J.M.B.,
B.D.O.-P., D.L.W., I.H., P.J.K.), the Department of General Practice,
Nursing Home, and Social Medicine (G.W.), and the Department of Epi-
demiology and Biostatistics (P.J.K.), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amster-
dam; and the Department of Public Health, Erasmus University, Rotter-
dam (P.J.M.) — both in the Netherlands. Address reprint requests to Dr.
van der Wal at Vrije Universiteit, EMGO Institute, Van der Boechorststraat
7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

EDICAL decisions are normally made
in the privacy of the doctor–patient re-
lationship.1 Decisions that involve phy-
sician-assisted death, however, require

at least regulatory oversight because of the risk
of abusing vulnerable patients.2 A primary concern
with regard to physician-assisted death is whether it

is possible to establish adequate safeguards against
such abuses.3

In the Netherlands, physician-assisted death is still
subject to criminal law. Yet euthanasia and physician-
assisted suicide have been practiced with increasing
openness since the 1970s and are supported by pub-
lic opinion, the majority of physicians, and case
law.4-6 Requirements for accepted practice have been
formulated by courts and the medical profession,
and in general, a physician will not be prosecuted if
he or she acts in accordance with these require-
ments.7 The requirements are as follows: the patient
must consider his or her suffering unbearable and
hopeless; the wish to die must be well considered
and persistent; the request must be voluntary; the
physician must consult at least one other physician;
and the physician may not ascribe the death to nat-
ural causes and is obliged to keep records. In addi-
tion, most hospitals and nursing homes have written
policies governing euthanasia and assisted suicide.8

To establish a mechanism for public oversight, a
notification procedure was agreed on in 1990 by the
minister of justice and the Royal Dutch Medical As-
sociation. This procedure has been in use since 19

and was enacted legally by the Dutch legislature in
June 1994.

The purposes of the notification procedure are to
encourage physicians to disclose cases in which they
have assisted in a patient’s death, to promote adher-
ence to the requirements for accepted practice, and
to ensure that the reporting of physician-assisted
death is uniform throughout the country. According
to the procedure, a physician who has assisted in a
patient’s death does not issue a certificate of natural
death but instead informs the coroner that it was a
physician-assisted death. The physician is expected
to use an official checklist with questions about the
medical history, the request of the patient, the drugs
used to cause death, and the report of the other
physician consulted. The coroner then conducts a

S P E C I A L R E P O R T S F R O M T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

Vo l u m e 3 3 5 N u m b e r 2 2 � 1707

postmortem examination, collects the relevant data,
informs the public prosecutor of the death, and sub-
mits all the relevant documents. The public prosecu-
tor decides whether to permit burial or cremation,
examines the record, and presents a judgment to the
prosecutor general. The latter, usually assisted by an
advocate general, presents the case, together with
his or her own opinion, to the Assembly of Prosecu-
tors General, which has five members. The assembly
provisionally decides whether or not to prosecute.
The final decision with regard to prosecution is made
by the minister of justice.

In 1995 the ministers of health and justice com-
missioned an evaluation of the notification proce-
dure to determine whether it is serving the purposes
for which it was established.

METHODS

We interviewed a stratified random sample of 405 physicians.
This sample was representative of all Dutch physicians. The study
methods are described elsewhere in this issue.9

We also interviewed a random sample of 175 physicians, strat-
ified according to judicial multidistrict area and type of practice
(general practice, medical specialty, nursing home practice), se-
lected from the 741 physicians reporting cases of physician-assist-
ed death (a total of 804) between August 1, 1994, and February
1, 1995. A total of 28 physicians were not interviewed: 6 could
not be traced, 4 had already been included in the larger random
sample, 1 was involved in a case that had not yet been closed, and
17 (10 percent) refused to participate in the study. In addition to
background characteristics, the 147 physicians were asked about
the reported cases of physician-assisted death, the most recent un-
reported case (if applicable), and their opinions on the notifica-
tion and review procedures.

We interviewed 116 of the coroners involved in the cases re-
ported by the 147 physicians. In the Netherlands, coroners can
be private general practitioners or physicians working for public
health departments. To obtain a sample that would be represen-
tative of both groups, the coroners were selected in such a way
that all public health departments involved were represented, and
no more than two coroners per public health department were
interviewed. None of the coroners refused to participate. There
were 34 private general practitioners and 82 physicians working
for public health departments.

The interviews with physicians and coroners were conducted by
21 experienced physicians and 4 experienced coroners, respective-
ly, all of whom received training in interviewing. The interviews
were based on an extensive, structured questionnaire and lasted
for 21⁄ 2 hours, on average.

To extrapolate the results of the interviews with the 147 phy-
sicians to all physicians who reported cases between August 1,
1994, and February 1, 1995, we used weights that accounted for
the stratification of the sample. Similarly, to extrapolate the re-
sults of interviews with the 116 coroners to all coroners who were
involved in the reported cases, we used weights that took into ac-
count the selection procedure.

Of the 804 cases of physician-assisted death reported between
August 1, 1994, and February 1, 1995, 363 were randomly se-
lected from the public prosecutors’ files, stratified according to ju-
dicial district. Ten files could not be found in the public prosecu-
tors’ offices. Information about the characteristics of the cases
was obtained from the other 353 files.

The overall numbers of reported cases per year were derived
from the registers of the public prosecutors and from a data base
set up by the ministry of justice for this study.

Detailed interviews were also conducted with 48 officials: 39
public prosecutors (2 from each judicial district [3 from three

large districts]) and the 4 advocates general and 5 prosecutors
general involved in the five judicial multidistrict areas.

The confidential minutes of the Assembly of Prosecutors Gen-
eral for sessions involving reported cases of physician-assisted
death were made available to us for the purpose of this study. All
minutes of meetings from 1991 through 1995 were independent-
ly analyzed by two investigators. All published court decisions
concerning cases of physician-assisted death from 1981 through
1995 were also analyzed.

The 95 percent confidence intervals for differences between
proportions were calculated with McNemar’s test, which takes
into account the fact that these are matched data. Calculations
were performed with the Confidence Interval Analysis computer
program.10

RESULTS

Number of Reported Cases

The number of reported cases of physician-assisted
death gradually increased to 486 in 1990, increased
steeply to 1201 in 1992, and then gradually leveled
off to 1466 in 1995 (Table 1). The estimated num-
bers of cases of euthanasia and physician-assisted sui-
cide were 2700 in 1990 and 3600 in 19959; the no-
tification rate thus increased from about 18 percent
to 41 percent during that period. Cases of physician-
assisted death without the patient’s explicit request
were rarely reported: two cases were reported in
1990, and three in 1995. (In the Netherlands we do
not use the term “euthanasia” for these cases.)

Physicians’ Reasons for Reporting or Not Reporting Cases

The most important reasons cited for reporting
cases of physician-assisted death were as follows: the
physician reports all cases (75 percent), reporting is
obligatory (17 percent), it is the official policy of the
physician’s institution (13 percent), and it gives an
account to society (13 percent). (Some physicians
gave more than one reason.) Asked about their
experiences with the notification procedure, some
physicians had negative responses (it is time-con-
suming [37 percent], burdensome [30 percent], in-
criminating [11 percent], or a breach of privacy
[5 percent]); some were neutral (30 percent); and
others said they felt supported (19 percent), had
positive views (13 percent), or felt relieved by the
procedure (7 percent). (Some physicians gave more
than one response.)

In the interviews with the random sample of 405
physicians, 49 said they had not reported the most
recent case of assisting with a patient’s death at the
explicit request of the patient. They gave the follow-
ing reasons for not doing so: a wish to avoid the fuss
of a judicial inquiry (25 physicians), a wish to pro-
tect the patient’s relatives from a judicial inquiry
(12), a request from the patient’s relatives to be pro-
tected from a judicial inquiry (10), fear of prosecu-
tion (10), failure to fulfill the requirements for ac-
cepted practice (8), and the belief that assistance
with death should be a private matter between doc-
tor and patient (6). Of these 49 physicians, 7 said

1708 � No ve m b e r 2 8 , 1 9 9 6

T h e New E n g l a n d Jo u r n a l o f Me d i c i n e

they would never report a case of physician-assisted
death. Of the 70 respondents who had not reported
the most recent case of assisting with a patient’s
death in the absence of an explicit request from the
patient, 37 said that in their opinion it had been a
natural death, and 36 said they would never report
such a case.

Characteristics of Reported and Unreported Cases

Of the 147 respondents who had reported cases
of assisted death, 84 said they had decided not to re-
port at least one other case. (After the sample had
been weighted, these respondents corresponded to
an estimated 52 percent of all physicians who re-
ported a case of physician-assisted death.) These 84
physicians were also asked about the most recent un-

reported case. Only 1 of the reported cases had in-
volved assistance in ending life without an explicit
request from the patient, whereas 16 of the 84 most
recent unreported cases had involved assistance
without the patient’s explicit request.

Features of the other 68 reported and unreported
cases of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are
shown in Table 2.

There were no major differences between report-
ed and unreported cases in terms of the patients’
characteristics or the basis for the decision to pro-
vide assistance (i.e., whether there was an explicit re-
quest and unbearable and hopeless suffering). How-
ever, the procedural requirements were met less
often in the unreported cases: a written request (44
percent in the unreported cases vs. 73 percent in the
reported cases), consultation with another physician
(11 percent vs. 94 percent), and a written report (57
percent vs. 97 percent). A comparison of the most
recent reported and unreported cases in the larger
random sample of physicians had similar results. A
comparison of the most recent (reported and unre-
ported) cases in 1990 and 1995 showed no differ-
ences in the percentage of cases in which the sub-
stantive requirements for accepted practice had been
met. The results differed, however, with respect to
procedural requirements. The decision had not been
discussed with a colleague in 11 percent of the cases
in 1995, as compared with 16 percent in 1990, and
a written report was available in 81 percent of the
cases in 1995, as compared with 60 percent in 1990.
As shown in Table 1, the number of reported cases
also showed a marked increase.

Notification and Conclusion of Cases

Before 1990, 60 percent of all reported cases of
physician-assisted deaths were reported to a coroner,
42 percent to a public prosecutor, and 42 percent to
the police. After 1990, 98 percent of reported cases
were reported to a coroner, 7 percent to a public
prosecutor, and none to the police. In 56 percent of
the 353 judicial files studied, the physician had used
the official checklist, which is part of the notification
procedure, to present the relevant information.

The time between notification by the physician
and notice of the conclusion of the judicial proce-
dure was, on average, 103 days for cases that were
dismissed without further examination. This period
varied greatly by district. Cases that were the subject
of an inquest or were brought to court took much
longer, sometimes several years.

Examination by Public Prosecutors

Of the 6324 cases reported from 1991 through
1995, 120 were discussed by the Assembly of Prose-
cutors General. Inquests were conducted in 21 cases
(involving 22 physicians) and dismissed; 13 physicians
were prosecuted. The percentage of cases that result-

*NA denotes data not available. Before 1990 reported cases are listed
according to the date of discussion in the Assembly of Prosecutors General;
for 1990 and after, reported cases are listed according to the date of death
and the respective notification. Between these dates there can be months
of delay.

†Between the year of prosecution and the year of the published final
court decision, there can be an interval of one or more years.

‡In three other cases the inquiry has not yet been completed.

§In two cases the physicians were discharged of liability for conviction by
payment of a fixed fine, because they had reported cases of euthanasia as
natural deaths. In four other cases the inquiry has not yet been completed.

TABLE 1. PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED DEATHS REPORTED TO PUBLIC
PROSECUTORS, DISCUSSED IN THE ASSEMBLY OF PROSECUTORS
GENERAL, AND SUBJECTED TO INQUESTS, PROSECUTIONS, AND

PUBLISHED COURT DECISIONS, 1981–1995.*

YEAR

NO. OF
REPORTED

CASES

NO.

OF CASES

DISCUSSED IN

ASSEMBLY

NO. OF
INQUESTS

FOLLOWED BY
DISMISSAL

NO. OF
PROSECU-

TIONS

PUBLISHED
COURT

DECISION†

1981–
1985

71 NA 1 8 1 acquittal

1986 84 NA 1 2 2 acquittals, 1
suspended
sentence

1987 126 NA 1 3 1 acquittal with
a fine, 1 dis-
charge

1988 184 NA 1 2 2 suspended
sentences
(1 with a fine)

1989 338 NA 2 1 1 acquittal with
a fine

1990 486 NA 0 0 0

1991 866 14 0 1 1 discharge

1992 1201 17 2 2 0

1993 1304 26 11 4 2 acquittals

1994 1487 27‡ 6 5 1 acquittal, 2
guilty without
punishment

1995 1466 36§ 3 1 1 acquittal,
3 suspended
sentences (1
with a fine), 1
guilty without
punishment

S P E C I A L R E P O R T S F R O M T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

Vo l u m e 3 3 5 N u m b e r 2 2 � 1709

ed in prosecution was much smaller than that in the
previous decade (Table 1). The most important rea-
sons for further discussion in the assembly were as fol-
lows: the patient was not yet in the terminal phase of
disease (in 38 percent of the cases), the request was
absent or unclear (25 percent), the consultation was
absent or inadequate (24 percent), there was doubt
that the patient’s suffering had been unbearable and
hopeless (23 percent), and the physician’s perform-
ance was inadequate (13 percent) (Table 3). Prosecu-
tion was initiated in cases of flagrant violation of the
requirements for accepted practice and, in some cases,
to establish a test case to elicit jurisprudence. In the
overall total of 20 published final court decisions re-
garding 18 cases of physician-assisted death, 9 physi-
cians were acquitted, mostly because their actions
were deemed medically necessary; 2 were discharged
from further prosecution, 3 were found guilty but
not punished, and 6 were given suspended sentences
of one week to six months (Table 1).

Opinions about Notification and Review Procedures

The majority of the respondents in the different
groups interviewed thought that every case of physi-
cian-assisted death should be reviewed; however, 35
percent of respondents in the large random sample
of physicians did not. Of the physicians in this group
who thought every case should be examined, 30 per-
cent thought the decision should be reviewed only
before the fact. In the other groups, this percentage
was lower. The majority of respondents in the four
groups thought that if cases were to be reviewed be-
fore the fact, the review should be performed by
members of the medical profession. Most physicians
thought the review should be carried out by an in-
dependent consultant. Only one public prosecutor
considered it sufficient to review cases before the
fact. In each group, a large proportion of respond-
ents thought it necessary to review cases both before
and after the fact. Opinions about who should review
cases after the fact varied widely and often reflected
the respondent’s position. Thus, 51 percent of the
public prosecutors thought they should have the re-
sponsibility for the review, and 63 percent of the cor-
oners thought it should be their responsibility.

DISCUSSION

This study provides insight into the functioning of
a legal notification procedure for physician-assisted
death. The study had the following strengths: most of
the respondents were willing to participate in the ex-
tensive interviews (refusal rate, 0 to 11 percent); we
had complete access to all confidential documents;
the study was supported by the Royal Dutch Medical
Association, the chief inspector for health care, and
the ministers of health and justice; and the data col-
lected could not be used for legal prosecution.

Does the notification procedure encourage physi-

*CI denotes confidence interval. The exact confidence intervals are
shown; the differences have been rounded and may therefore appear to lie
outside the confidence intervals.

†Estimated survival was defined as the number of remaining months,
weeks, or hours a patient was expected to survive in the absence of any in-
tervention.

‡More than one answer could be given.

§Both were available for some patients.

TABLE 2. CHARACTERISTICS OF REPORTED AND UNREPORTED
CASES OF EUTHANASIA AND ASSISTED SUICIDE.

CHARACTERISTIC

REPORTED
CASES

(N � 68)

UNREPORTED
CASES

(N � 68)

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
REPORTED AND

UNREPORTED CASES
(95% CI)*

% of cases

Patients
Sex

Male
Female

Age (yr)
0–49
50–64
65–79
�80

Diagnosis
Malignant neoplasm
Disease of the circu-

latory system
Disease of the ner-

vous system
Disease of the res-

piratory system
Other diseases

Estimated survival†
�6 mo
1 to 6 mo
�1 wk to �1 mo
1 wk at most
�24 hr

52
49

33
27

65
8

12
5
11

13
40
20
7

62
38

11
17
50

79
8

3
5
6

33
25
8

�10.6 (�25.8 to 4.6)
10.6 (�4.6 to 25.8)

15.2 (1.3 to 23.8)
16.7 (2.4 to 31)

�22.7 (�38.9 to �6.6)
�9.1 (�22.2 to 4)

�13.6 (�23.5 to 0.7)
0.0 (�9.5 to 9.5)

9.1 (�0.6 to 12)

0.0 (�5.2 to 5.2)

4.6 (�5.5 to 11.6)

11.5 (�1.6 to 19.2)
�11.7 (�23.7 to 4.2)

6.7 (�11.7 to 25.1)
�5.0 (�17.9 to 9.7)
�1.7 (�10.9 to 8.6)

Requirements for pru-
dent practice

Patient’s request
Highly explicit
Rather explicit

Written will present
Unbearable suffering

Utterly
To a high degree
To a lesser degree

Hopeless suffering
Utterly
To a high degree
To a lesser degree

Alternative treatments
available

Consultation
Written report on de-

cision making‡
Yes, separate report§
Yes, notes in the

medical record§
No

100

64
23
13

86
11
3

36
84

44
64
23
13

11
2

24
11

0
57

7.6 (�0.3 to 7.6)
�7.6 (�7.6 to 0.3)
28.6 (11.9 to 45.3)

0.0 (�15.6 to 15.6)
0.0 (�14.4 to 14.4)
0.0 (�8.6 to 8.6)

�1.6 (�14.4 to 11.8)
0.0 (�11.8 to 11.8)
1.6 (�3.8 to 4.6)
1.5 (�12.7 to 15.8)

83.1 (72.1 to 83.1)

35.8 (25.6 to 35.8)
26.9 (11.7 to 35.4)

�40.3 (�43.2 to �27.9)
Other

Discussion with col-
leagues

Contact with patient’s
relatives

No technical problems
with administra-
tion of drugs

100
99
88

92
91

42.4 (32 to 42.4)

6.1 (�2.6 to 9)

�3.1 (�11.6 to 7.3)

1710 � No ve m b e r 2 8 , 1 9 9 6

T h e New E n g l a n d Jo u r n a l o f Me d i c i n e

cians to disclose their practice of assisting with
death? The rate of notification about cases of eutha-
nasia and physician-assisted suicide rose from an es-
timated 18 percent in 1990 to about 41 percent in
1995. Notification about cases that did not involve
the explicit request of the patient remained very low,
which is not surprising in view of the statement by
the previous minister of justice that reporting such
acts would always be prosecuted.

Does the notification procedure promote adher-
ence to the requirements for accepted practice? A
comparison of the 1990 and 1995 data shows that
procedural requirements are met more often nowa-
days. Procedural requirements, of course, are also met
more often in reported cases than in unreported cas-
es. The substantive requirements for accepted practice
were met in the large majority of cases, reported and
unreported, and have been since 1990.

Does the notification procedure ensure that the
reporting of physician-assisted death is dealt with
uniformly throughout the country? Uniformity in
reporting has been obtained to a large extent at the
beginning and at the end of the notification proce-
dure: almost all reported cases have been reported to
a coroner, and all reported cases have finally been

presented in the Assembly of Prosecutors General,
which promotes uniformity in the prosecution poli-
cy in all districts. Other aspects of the notification
procedure still vary greatly. The checklist that is part
of the procedure is used by only about half the phy-
sicians, and the time between notification and in-
forming the physician whether the case has been dis-
missed varies widely among districts.

The results of our study show that the notification
procedure has improved public oversight in this area.
At the same time, our data show that there is still a
large difference between the number of cases report-
ed and the number that should be reported. This is
particularly true of cases in which there was no ex-
plicit request from the patient.

Our study shows that a large majority of Dutch
physicians are willing to have cases of physician-
assisted death reviewed. The very high rates of par-
ticipation in studies such as ours reflect the support
of the medical profession for some form of public
oversight in this area. Most physicians, however,
seem to prefer that cases not be examined by public
prosecutors. Perhaps the notification procedure should
be modified in that respect. If physicians were better
informed about the percentage of cases that are
prosecuted and the reasons for prosecution, their
fear of prosecution might be largely eliminated, and
their willingness to report cases increased. The re-
view of reported cases could also be improved by re-
ducing the burden associated with the procedure
and the required paperwork and by completing the
review more rapidly. Explicit formulation of the
nonprosecution policy by public prosecutors might
also increase physicians’ willingness to report cases.
Furthermore, an explicit policy might enable cases to
be settled at the district level, while maintaining uni-
formity throughout the country. If there is a further
increase in the number of reported cases, that will
become necessary in order to avoid congestion at
the level of the Assembly of Prosecutors General.

The number of reported cases of physician-assist-
ed death will probably continue to increase, but there
will always be some cases in which not all the re-
quirements are met, and these are the cases that are
likely not to be reported. The most difficult situa-
tions will continue to involve terminally ill, suffering
patients who are not able to express their wishes and
have no advance directives. Physicians are likely to be
more open to review if it is performed in a less
threatening and more educational fashion, with more
involvement from the medical profession.

We believe that cautious optimism is warranted.
There seems to be only a small increase in the num-
ber of cases of euthanasia, there are indications that
decision making has improved, the number of re-
ported cases has greatly increased, and options for
further improvement in public oversight have been
identified. Nevertheless, there are limits to any sys-

*In some cases, more than one reason was cited.

†Eight patients were newborns or children, and five were
comatose or had reduced consciousness.

TABLE 3. MOST IMPORTANT REASON FOR DISCUSSING
120 REPORTED CASES IN THE ASSEMBLY OF

PROSECUTORS GENERAL, 1991–1995.

REASON*
PERCENTAGE

OF CASES

Terminal phase absent or not clear 38

Doubts about patient’s request
No explicit request†
Old or unwritten explicit request
Doubts about whether the request

was voluntary, well considered,
and persistent

25
11
8
7

Doubts about consultation
Not sufficient or none
No independent consultant
Consultant performed euthanasia

24
13
9
3

Doubts about suffering being hopeless
and unbearable

Available alternatives refused
Not specified

9
13

Doubts about performance
Physician not (continuously) present
Drugs not appropriate
Drugs not administered by physician

or patient

13
7
4
2

Doubts about medical necessity
Physician was not the attending physician
Drugs taken weeks after delivery

5
3
2

Primarily mental suffering 5

Reported as natural death 4

Inadequate report 3

Other 4

S P E C I A L R E P O R T S F R O M T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

Vo l u m e 3 3 5 N u m b e r 2 2 � 1711

tem of oversight. Some decisions will continue to be
considered by both doctor and patient to be private,
and some tension will remain between the public
and the private domain, as in other aspects of med-
icine. Close monitoring of the practice of physician-
assisted death is both necessary and possible.

Supported by a grant from the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Ministry
of Health, Welfare, and Sports.

We are indebted to Johanna H. Groenewoud, M.D., Agnes van
der Heide, M.D., Ph.D., and Martien T. Muller, Ph.D., for their
contributions to the study and the manuscript; to Rita Verdurmen
for her contribution to the study; to David Schweigman, M.A., and
Etienne M.H.H. Wolfs for their contribution to the judicial-file
study; to the interviewers for interviewing the physicians and the
public prosecutors; to the members of the steering committee for their
continuous support during the study; to the physicians and public
prosecutors who provided the information for the study; and to the
Royal Dutch Medical Association and the chief inspector for health
care for their support of the study.

REFERENCES

1. Annas GJ, Glantz LH, Mariner WK. The right of privacy protects the
doctor-patient relationship. JAMA 1990;263:858-61.
2. Miller FG, Quill TE, Brody H, Fletcher JC, Gostin LO, Meier DE.
Regulating physician-assisted death. N Engl J Med 1994;331:119-23.
3. Annas GJ. Death by prescription — the Oregon Initiative. N Engl J
Med 1994;331:1240-3.
4. van der Maas PJ, van Delden JJM, Pijnenborg L, Looman CWN. Eu-
thanasia and other medical decisions concerning the end of life. Lancet
1991;338:669-74.
5. van der Maas PJ, van Delden JJM, Pijnenborg L. Euthanasia and other
medical decisions concerning the end of life. Health Policy 1992;22(1/2).
6. van der Maas PJ, Pijnenborg L, van Delden JJ. Changes in Dutch opin-
ions on active euthanasia, 1966 through 1991. JAMA 1995;273:1411-4.
7. van der Wal G, Dillmann RJM. Euthanasia in the Netherlands. BMJ
1994;308:1346-9.
8. Haverkate I, van der Wal G. Policies on medical decisions concerning
the end of life in Dutch health care institutions. JAMA 1996;275:435-9.
9. van der Maas PJ, van der Wal G, Haverkate I, et al. Euthanasia, physi-
cian-assisted suicide, and other medical practices involving the end of life
in the Netherlands, 1990–1995. N Engl J Med 1996;335:1699-705.
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1989:28-33.

*Eighty physicians from the larger random sample, 14 physicians from the reporting-physicians sample, 5 coroners, and
4 public prosecutors who answered “no” to the first question qualified their answer by saying, “No, not always.” These
respondents also answered the other questions reported in this table.

†Categories of answers were offered to respondents in writing. More than one answer could be given to this question.

‡These categories were not offered as answers to the question “Who should examine beforehand?”

TABLE 4. OPINIONS ABOUT NOTIFICATION AND REVIEW PROCEDURES.

OPINION
RANDOM SAMPLE

OF PHYSICIANS
PHYSICIANS REPORTING

ASSISTED DEATHS CORONERS
PUBLIC

PROSECUTORS

weighted percentage

Every case of physician-assisted death should be examined
No. of respondents

Yes
No

405
65
35

147
88
12

116
93
7

48
92
8

Appropriate time for the review*
No. of respondents

Before assisted death
After assisted death
Both

358

28
42

138
16
24
60

112
17
26
57

48
2

46
52

Appropriate reviewer and time†
No. of respondents before/after

Medical professional
Before
After

Committee not restricted to medical profession
Before
After

Inspectorate for health care‡
Before
After

Coroner‡
Before
After

Public prosecutor‡
Before
After

Others
Before
After

266/250

86
42

22
34

25
20

15
16

105/115

81
31

16
30

14
30
18

10
15

84/94

71
22

42
36

16
63
37

28
10

26/47

66
13

58
36

8
19

Cases that should be examined afterward
No. of respondents

All cases
Randomly selected cases
Doubtful cases, selected beforehand
Other

243
66
17
12
6

110
81
4
9
3

92
84
7
6
3

47
85
0
6
9

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