Policies on assisted suicide in Dutch psychiatric facilities

Recent jurisprudence in the Netherlands challenges psychiatric hospitals to formulate policies on how to approach requests for assisted suicide. This study examined whether such policies exist in Dutch psychiatric hospitals and general hospitals with psychiatric wards. The directors of patient care in 38 of the country's 52 psychiatric hospitals and 42 of the 59 general hospitals with psychiatric wards responded to a mail survey. Five psychiatric hospitals and six general hospitals had written policies. Almost half of the psychiatric hospitals had a verbal policy only. The majority of the hospitals with policies had a tolerant or permissive policy toward assisted suicide.