Euthanasia
The greatest care has been taken to regulate care for patients who are suffering unbearably with no prospect of improvement. Euthanasia may only be carried out at the explicit request of the patient. It allows a person to end their life in dignity after having received every available type of palliative care.
In the Netherlands, euthanasia is understood to mean termination of life by a medical practitioner at the request of a patient. This definition also covers assisted suicide.
30 years of debate
In the past 30 years, the question whether euthanasia should remain a punishable offence has been the subject of debate. Under a new law introduced on 1 April 2002, doctors who perform euthanasia are no longer punishable provided they have followed the prescribed procedures and reported death by non-natural causes to the regional euthanasia review committee. The Criminal Code will be amended to include grounds for immunity from criminal liability.
The Euthanasia Act contains provisions governing requests for termination of life or assisted suicide by minors, and recognises the validity of written living wills. Doctors may grant both oral and written requests for euthanasia, but are never obliged to do so.
Evaluation
The number of cases of euthanasia and assisted suicide was lower in 2005 than in 2001. The percentage of euthanasia cases reported by doctors has risen sharply, and doctors appear to have complied with the due care criteria for euthanasia in virtually all reported cases. These are the conclusions of the report on the evaluation 
of the Euthanasia Act, as it is popularly known (May 2007).
The evaluation of the legislation was performed on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport by researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s medical centre, Erasmus MC, AMC and UMC Utrecht, in collaboration with Statistic Netherlands (CBS).
More information
On the site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
you can find questions and answers about euthanasia in the Netherlands. These questions and answers are translated in English, German, French and Spanish.
References
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Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Social Issues
Information about drugs, euthanasia, abortion and marriage between two men or two women
- Euthanasia, the Netherlands` new rules
- Talking in good time about end of life issues in the event of a life-threatening condition
- Palliative care Palliative care aims to ease the suffering of terminally ill patients and to improve the quality of their lives. It involves more than fighting pain and other symptoms of disease.
- Advisory Committee on termination of life of neonates
