Citation

Cras P. Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde 2004; 60(3): 219-222.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004)

DOI

10.2143/TVG.60.3.1001799

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

End-of-life decisions are decisions a medical practicioner can make concerning euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, life-ending acts without explicit requests and the cessation of or the failure to start medically futile treatments. Recently, but prior to the publication of the euthanasia law in Belgium, the Ethical Committee of the University Hospital Antwerp has dedicated a number of discussions to this particular subject. The present text is the result of these discussions. According to the Belgian euthanasia law, the physician is entitled to take additional precautions and to fulfill prerequisites. Some of the discussed issues should later be implemented in the law.

Language: nl

Keywords

human; law; decision making; assisted suicide; public health; review; euthanasia; medical practice; terminal care; publication; treatment failure; Belgium