[Assessing unbearable suffering in relation to euthanasia]

Dutch law permits physicians to perform euthanasia, provided they fulfil six criteria of due care. Prominent among these is the requirement that they are convinced that the patient is suffering unbearably. But how can they be sure of that? The problem seems to be that this criterion is too subjective on two scores: it makes the patient dependent on the empathic capacities of his physician, and it would be arrogant for the physician to deny that the patient is suffering unbearably if that is what the patient tells them. In this paper I suggest that this criterion is far less arbitrary than it seems.