A "suicide pill" for older people: attitudes of physicians, the general population, and relatives of patients who died after euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide in The Netherlands.
In the Netherlands there has been ongoing debate in the past 10 years about the availability of a hypothetical "suicide pill", with which older people could end their life in a dignified way if they so wished. Data on attitudes to the suicide pill were collected in the Netherlands from 410 physicians, 1,379 members of the general population, and 87 relatives of patients who died after euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. The general population and relatives were more in favor than physicians. Fifteen percent of the general population and 36% of the relatives thought a suicide pill should be made available.
Rurup
Mette L
ML
VU University Medical Center, Department of Public and Occupational Health and Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Institute for Research, Van der Boechorststraat, 7, Amsterdam, 1081BT, The Netherlands. m.rurup@vumc.nl
Onwuteaka-Philipsen
Bregje D
BD
Van Der Wal
Gerrit
G
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003657:Decision Making; D033101:Euthanasia, Active, Voluntary / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D010358:Patient Participation; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D017236:Suicide, Assisted / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires