“If Only I Could Start All over…” A Case Study of Spiritual Care Provision to a Patient with a Psychiatric Disorder Requesting Physician-Assisted Dying in The Netherlands

In a growing number of countries, legislation permits physicians—under strict conditions—to grant a request for physician-assisted dying (PAD). Legally allowing for the possibility of granting such a request is in accordance with central humanistic values such as respect for autonomy and self-determination. The Netherlands is one of few countries where severe suffering from a psychiatric illness qualifies as a ground for a request for PAD. Central in this article is a case description of spiritual care provision in the Netherlands by a humanist healthcare chaplain to a patient requesting PAD b... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Carmen Schuhmann
Marianne C. Snijdewind
Lisa van Duijvenbooden
Geert E. Smid
Dokumenttyp: Text
Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
Verlag/Hrsg.: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Schlagwörter: spiritual care / physician-assisted dying / secular chaplaincy / humanist spiritual care / The Netherlands / euthanasia
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-29179858
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12090672

In a growing number of countries, legislation permits physicians—under strict conditions—to grant a request for physician-assisted dying (PAD). Legally allowing for the possibility of granting such a request is in accordance with central humanistic values such as respect for autonomy and self-determination. The Netherlands is one of few countries where severe suffering from a psychiatric illness qualifies as a ground for a request for PAD. Central in this article is a case description of spiritual care provision in the Netherlands by a humanist healthcare chaplain to a patient requesting PAD because of psychiatric suffering. We discuss what we may learn from the case description about how spiritual caregivers may support patients who express a wish to die, and about their contribution to the care for patients with a psychiatric disorder who request PAD.