PURPOSE To study the association between depression and the incidence of explicit requests for euthanasia in terminally ill cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS A prospective cohort study was conducted on 138 consecutive cancer patients with an estimated life expectancy of 3 months or less, in the period between September 1999 and August 2003. At inclusion, participants completed the Hospita...

OBJECTIVE To describe a case of deliberate termination of life (euthanasia) in intensive care. DESIGN Case report and review of the literature. PATIENT A 56-yr-old man experienced a bilateral hemorrhage in the pontine structures and the medulla oblongata, resulting in a locked-in syndrome. The patient was taught to communicate by eye opening. On day 10 after the hemorrhage, he was informed ...

Euthanasia is controversial among health care professionals worldwide, but the number of countries that allow euthanasia is increasing and currently includes Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Colombia, and the province Quebec in Canada (1). Several ethical controversies, such as whether the physician should always inform patients about the possibility of organ donation after euthanasia, whi...

This paper argues that a cost/benefit-type economic analysis of whether or not to prohibit euthanasia should not be undertaken by health services managers unless ethical issues have been resolved to a particular conclusion. A conclusion on ethical grounds in favour of the prohibition of euthanasia renders the consideration of economic criteria redundant. The case of the German euthanasia progra...

1. In order to be deemed legal, acts of euthanasia must be performed according to "careful medical practice." Requests for euthanasia must be voluntary, well considered and persistent, and be made by patients who are experiencing unbearable suffering without hope of improvement. More than one physician must be involved in the decision, and both patient and physician must agree that euthanasia i...

IMPORTANCE The increasing legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide worldwide makes it important to understand related attitudes and practices. OBJECTIVE To review the legal status of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and the available data on attitudes and practices. EVIDENCE REVIEW Polling data and published surveys of the public and physicians, official state and ...

In this paper, a review of the concepts euthanasia and assisted suicide is conducted. It begins by describing historical trends from beginning 20th century to modern-day view. doing this, some notable cases these practices in identified periods are discussed separate section. This qualitative study revealed that doctrine practice differ for different regions. paper further analysed argument aga...