ReviewEClinicalMedicine2023
When the cause of death does not exist: time for the WHO to close the ICD classification gap for Medical Aid in Dying.
Review in EClinicalMedicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessment of decisional capacity. A systematic review and analysis of instruments regarding their applicability to requests for assisted suicide.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Pooled it
- Pinpointing the politics of passing away. An empirical ethics case study on legislating assisted dying.BMC medical ethics · 2026Article
- Prevalence and trends of multimorbidity clusters in Belgian assisted dying practice: a health registry study.Age and ageing · 2026Article
- Psycho-oncologists' roles, tasks, and needs regarding requests for assisted suicide - a qualitative interview study on current experiences and future directions.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Shaping a knowable event or embracing a mysterious journey: A mixed methods study on palliative care clinician views on voluntary assisted dying.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- "Healthcare professionals' attitudes towards euthanasia in the Balearic Islands."BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- Re-evaluation of the psychometric properties of ATE following changes in euthanasia regulations in Spain.PloS one · 2025Article
- Key challenges in providing assisted dying in Belgium: a qualitative analysis of health professionals' experiences.Palliative care and social practice · 2025Article
- Article
- Nurses' opinions on euthanasia in Spain: an evaluation using a new version of the EAS.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- Medical Aid in Dying: A Societal Challenge.International journal of public health · 2024Article
- "The Razor's Edge of Timing:" A Phenomenological Analysis of Decision-Making Processes Surrounding Medical Aid in Dying.International journal of public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Medical aid in dying (MAID) is a highly controversial ethical issue in the global medical community. Unfortunately, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) of the World Health Organization (WHO) lacks coding for MAID. Therefore, no robust data adequately monitors worldwide trends that include information on diseases and conditions underlying the patients' request for assisted dying ("MAID gap"). Countries with legalised MAID observe substantial increases in cases, and likely additional countries will allow MAID in the near future. Hence, we encourage the WHO to create specific ICD codes for MAID. According to internationally established practices, a revised classification would require separate MAID-codes for (1) assisted suicide and (2) voluntary active euthanasia including supplemental codings of diseases, clusters of symptoms and function-oriented categories. By addressing these concerns, the WHO could close the "MAID gap" with new codes providing urgently necessary insights to society, public health decision-makers and regulators on this comparatively new social and medical ethical phenomenon. Search strategy and selection criteria: Data for this Viewpoint were identified by searches of MEDLINE, PubMed, and references from relevant articles using the search terms "Medical Aid in Dying", "Assisted Dying", "Assisted suicide", "Voluntary active euthanasia", "End of life decisions" and "Cause of death statistics". Only articles and sources published in English between 1997 and 2023 were included."
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.