Trends in End-of-Life Care in the Netherlands Before and After Legalization of Euthanasia

The Netherlands legalized euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in 2002; since 1990, Dutch physicians have been surveyed every 5 years about end-of-life practices. Cases in which physicians report acting with explicit intention of hastening death are classified as euthanasia or PAS.

From these survey results, researchers estimated that euthanasia (usually with neuromuscular relaxants or barbiturates) accounted for 2.8% of all deaths in 2010, compared with 1.7% in 2005 and 2.6% in 2001. PAS was uncommon (0.1% of all deaths in 2010 and 2005). Between 2005 and 2010, patient requests for euthanasia or PAS increased from 4.8% to 6.7% of all deaths, and the proportion of requests that were granted increased from 37% to 45%. Ending life w…