Does legal physician-assisted dying impede development of palliative care? The Belgian and Benelux experience

Background In 2002, physician-assisted dying was legally regulated in the Netherlands and Belgium, followed in 2009 by Luxembourg. An internationally frequently expressed concern is that such legislation could stunt the development of palliative care (PC) and erode its culture. To study this, we describe changes in PC development 2005–2012 in the permissive Benelux countries and compare them with non-permissive countries. Methods Focusing on the seven European countries with the highest development of PC, which include the three euthanasia-permissive and four non-permissive countries, we compa... Mehr ...