The medical organization KNMG has added to its position on euthanasia in dementia. Doctors are now given tools to consider euthanasia in complex situations, for example in incapacitated patients with advanced dementia.
In the previous position, doctors were advised not to perform euthanasia if communication with the patient is not possible. The new adjustment gives doctors more room to consider euthanasia.
The adjusted position should ensure that doctors can come to a good decision together with patients and relatives. A written request for euthanasia must still be submitted, also for incapacitated people, drawn up by the patient himself when he was still mentally competent. Exceptional situations such as unbearable suffering are also included in the modified position. If the patient is in doubt at any stage, the doctor must still refrain from euthanasia.
The previous position was already tightened up in 2012, after the review committee ruled that care had been taken in two cases. April last year the Supreme Court ruled in a case where a doctor had ended the life of a patient with advanced dementia. The doctor was found not guilty. This ruling led to the revised position.
Source: NOS.nl
