ArticleBMC psychiatry2017
Euthanasia for people with psychiatric disorders or dementia in Belgium: analysis of officially reported cases.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 125 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assisted death in eating disorders: a systematic review of cases and clinical rationales.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Review
- On the topical issue of assisted dying: the insurmountable challenges of human existence, and the right to exit.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Incidence of reported cases of euthanasia adjusted for demographic composition: a study of ten years of Belgian administrative data (2014-2023).BMC public health · 2025Article
- Euthanasia in Mental Disorders: Clinical and Ethical Issues in the Cases of Two Women Suffering from Depression.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The first year of assisted dying in New Zealand through the lens of healthcare professionals not directly involved in the process.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Attitudes towards euthanasia and assisted suicide: a cross-sectional study among physicians in Estonia.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Neurology and physician-assisted suicide: glossary of definitions and terminology.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025Article
- Requests for Medical Assistance in Dying by Young Dutch People With Psychiatric Disorders.JAMA psychiatry · 2025Observational
- Shifting the pendulum - but with checks and balances.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2024Article
- Multidimensional Study of the Attitude towards Euthanasia of Older Adults with Mixed Anxiety-Depressive Disorder.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Ethical perspectives regarding Euthanasia, including in the context of adult psychiatry: a qualitative interview study among healthcare workers in Belgium.BMC medical ethics · 2024Article
- What medical conditions lead to a request for euthanasia? A rapid scoping review.Health science reports · 2024Article
- Voluntary Assisted Dying/Euthanasia: Will This Have an Impact on Cancer Care in Future Years?Current treatment options in oncology · 2023Review
- Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in Mental Disorders: Ethical Positions in the Debate between Proportionality, Dignity, and the Right to Die.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Attitudes and Behaviors of Palliative Care Nurses on Euthanasia.Florence Nightingale journal of nursing · 2023Article
- A lived experience response to the proposed diagnosis of terminal anorexia nervosa: learning from iatrogenic harm, ambivalence and enduring hope.Journal of eating disorders · 2023Article
- Mapping the ethical aspects in end-of-life care for persons with a severe and persistent mental illness: A scoping review of the literature.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Finished with Life Anyway and Then Stigmatized for Attempting Suicide-An Overview.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The impact of the euthanasia assessment procedure: a qualitative interview study among adults with psychiatric conditions.BMC psychiatry · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEuthanasia for people who are not terminally ill, such as those suffering from psychiatric disorders or dementia, is legal in Belgium under strict conditions but remains a controversial practice. As yet, the prevalence of euthanasia for people with psychiatric disorders or dementia has not been studied and little is known about the characteristics of the practice. This study aims to report on the trends in prevalence and number of euthanasia cases with a psychiatric disorder or dementia diagnosis in Belgium and demographic, clinical and decision-making characteristics of these cases.
methodsWe analysed the anonymous databases of euthanasia cases reported to the Federal Control and Evaluation Committee Euthanasia from the implementation of the euthanasia law in Belgium in 2002 until the end of 2013. The databases we received provided the information on all euthanasia cases as registered by the Committee from the official registration forms. Only those with one or more psychiatric disorders or dementia and no physical disease were included in the analysis.
resultsWe identified 179 reported euthanasia cases with a psychiatric disorder or dementia as the sole diagnosis. These consisted of mood disorders (N = 83), dementia (N = 62), other psychiatric disorders (N = 22) and mood disorders accompanied by another psychiatric disorder (N = 12). The proportion of euthanasia cases with a psychiatric disorder or dementia diagnosis was 0.5% of all cases reported in the period 2002-2007, increasing from 2008 onwards to 3.0% of all cases reported in 2013. The increase in the absolute number of cases is particularly evident in cases with a mood disorder diagnosis. The majority of cases concerned women (58.1% in dementia to 77.1% in mood disorders). All cases were judged to have met the legal requirements by the Committee.
conclusionsWhile euthanasia on the grounds of unbearable suffering caused by a psychiatric disorder or dementia remains a comparatively limited practice in Belgium, its prevalence has risen since 2008. If, as this study suggests, people with psychiatric conditions or dementia are increasingly seeking access to euthanasia, the development of practice guidelines is all the more desirable if physicians are to respond adequately to these highly delicate requests.
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