[Assessment of euthanasia request by SCEN physicians].

OBJECTIVE

To determine how uniformly Support and Consultation on Euthanasia in the Netherlands (SCEN) doctors assess a euthanasia request in patients not in the final stages of a terminal illness.

DESIGN

Qualitative research.

METHOD

Internal survey among SCEN doctors in the 'SCEN-Drenthe' peer group, who were asked to provide an opinion on the requirements of due care, items a to d, of the Termination of life on request and assisted suicide act (WTL) in three fictitious patients.

RESULTS

Sixty assessments were received from 20 SCEN physicians. Half of the reviews were assessed as 'due care requirements not met". 45% of these were for a patient whose request was based on the grounds of a "completed life", 50% for a patient with Alzheimer's, and 55% for a patient with a reduced level of consciousness. Uncertainty about the place of Article 2.2 of the WTL, personal assessment of the unbearable nature of hopeless suffering and the rejection of alternative solutions were responsible for the heterogeneous assessments.

CONCLUSION

Uniformity of assessment is important to avoid legal disparity in this patient group. We found no medical or ethical benchmarks for determining the unbearable nature of suffering. A verifying assessment by the SCEN physician can only provide an opinion regarding the presence of hopeless pain that is classified as "unbearable". A negative SCEN assessment undermines a person's sense of justice at a difficult time, while the hopeless suffering may well be accepted as unbearable in comparable cases. Adapting the KNMG "Guidelines on euthanasia for patients in a state of reduced consciousness" so that they are in line with the WTL could also contribute to greater uniformity.