[Physician-assisted suicide of a patient suffering from a psycho-organic disorder]

A 71-year-old man suffering from vascular dementia since four years asked for physician-assisted suicide. In the Netherlands physician-assisted suicide, which is forbidden by law, remains an intricate dilemma in medical practice. As far as it concerns untreatable terminal patients who decide to put an end to their lives in agreement with and assisted by their physician, procedures are well defined. The present case may be used as an example in the development of a protocol for physician-assisted suicide in patients who are not terminal in the short term, but who suffer unbearably with no prospect of remission. After the protocol securing various formal and medical consequences was run through, the patient was assisted by handling him a high-dose solution of a barbiturate which he drank himself. The procedure incorporates several second and third opinions. First, the chief psychiatrist of the psychiatric hospital assesses the request. Second, a committee consisting of a number of independent professionals form a second opinion. They have no direct responsibility in the treatment of the patient. The patient also may consult an independent consultant psychiatrist with specific knowledge in the domain of his disorder for a third opinion. This procedure was found legally as well as medically sound, and was approved by the public prosecutor after consultation with the Dutch forum of Procurators-General.