ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2022
Improving control over euthanasia of persons with psychiatric illness: Lessons from the first Belgian criminal court case concerning euthanasia.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- 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 - A Legal or Medical Issue: A Narrative Review.Iranian journal of public health · 2025Review
- Clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of borderline personality disorder: a systematic review of best practice in anticipation of MAiD MD-SUMC.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2025Article
- Key challenges in providing assisted dying in Belgium: a qualitative analysis of health professionals' experiences.Palliative care and social practice · 2025Article
- Euthanasia for unbearable suffering caused by a psychiatric disorder: improving the regulatory framework.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2024Article
- Externalist argument against medical assistance in dying for psychiatric illness.Journal of medical ethics · 2023Article
- Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in Mental Disorders: Ethical Positions in the Debate between Proportionality, Dignity, and the Right to Die.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Characteristics and outcomes of peer consultations for assisted dying request assessments: Cross-sectional survey study among attending physicians.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- The Belgian euthanasia law under scrutiny of the highest courts.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2023Article
- Euthanasia of a person with a psychiatric disorder does not violate the European Convention on Human Rights (European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2022Article
- Media coverage of Belgium's first criminal case concerning euthanasia for psychiatric patients: A content analysis of Flemish newspapers and magazines.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
Background: Belgium is one of very few countries that legally allow euthanasia for suffering caused by psychiatric illness. In the first criminal trial in Belgium of physicians involved in euthanasia, three physicians recently faced the accusation of "murder by poisoning," for allegedly having failed to comply with several requirements of the Belgian Euthanasia Law in granting the euthanasia request a woman suffering from psychiatric illness. Although all three physicians were acquitted, the case generated much debate among policy makers, medical professionals, and the general public. Method: We use this trial as the starting point for a critical analysis of the adequacy of the three-level control system established in the Euthanasia Law, as it is applied in the evaluation of euthanasia requests from persons who suffer unbearably from a psychiatric illness. This analysis is based on information presented during the criminal trial as well as information on the euthanasia that was published in the press. Results: Our analysis highlights substantial problems in the assessment and granting of the euthanasia request. The patient was euthanized without it having been substantiated that her psychiatric illness had no prospect of improvement and that her suffering could not be alleviated. The three-step control system enshrined in the Law and promoted by the Federal Control and Evaluation Commission for Euthanasia appears to have failed at each level. Conclusion: To evaluate requests for euthanasia for mental suffering caused by psychiatric illness, the requirements of the Belgian Euthanasia Law should be complemented by mandating the advice of two psychiatrists, and face-to-face discussions between all physicians involved. In parallel with the process of evaluating the euthanasia request, a treatment track should be guaranteed where reasonable evidence-based treatments and recovery-oriented options are tried.
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