ArticleBJPsych open2023
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism spectrum disorders: investigation of 39 Dutch case reports (2012-2021).
Article in BJPsych open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association between social connectedness and euthanasia and assisted suicide and related constructs: systematic review.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Society is for the Living: Disability, Unthinkable Lives, and MAID.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2026Article
- Suffering, Sanctity of Life and the Moral Dilemma of Physician-Assisted Suicide: What the Netherlands Teaches Us.The Linacre quarterly · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEuthanasia review committees (Regionale Toetsingscommissies Euthanasie, RTE) scrutinise all Dutch cases of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) to review whether six legal 'due care' criteria are met, including 'unbearable suffering without prospect of improvement'. There are significant complexities and ethical dilemmas if EAS requests are made by people with intellectual disabilities or autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
aimsTo describe the characteristics and circumstances of people with intellectual disabilities and/or ASD who were granted their EAS request; investigate the main causes of suffering that led to the EAS request; and examine physicians' response to the request.
methodThe online RTE database of 927 EAS case reports (2012-2021) was searched for patients with intellectual disabilities and/or ASD (
resultsFactors directly associated with intellectual disability and/or ASD were the sole cause of suffering described in 21% of cases and a major contributing factor in a further 42% of cases. Reasons for the EAS request included social isolation and loneliness (77%), lack of resilience or coping strategies (56%), lack of flexibility (rigid thinking or difficulty adapting to change) (44%) and oversensitivity to stimuli (26%). In one-third of cases, physicians noted there was 'no prospect of improvement' as ASD and intellectual disability are not treatable.
conclusionsExamination of societal support for suffering associated with lifelong disability, and debates around the acceptability of these factors as reasons for granting EAS, are of international importance.
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Registered trials
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