Author: Tinne Smets
Date: 14-01-2011
Promotor: Prof. dr. Luc Deliens
Co-Promotors: Prof. dr. Johan Bilsen and Prof. dr. Joachim Cohen
SUMMARY OF THE DISSERTATION
One of the most complex and challenging medical, ethical, and societal debates today surrounds the issue of euthanasia. In the debates, much attention is given to questions about the possibility of efficient societal control over euthanasia and about how the carefulness of the practice can be safeguarded. In this book, several original studies are presented that provide insight into the euthanasia practice in Belgium, where euthanasia can be practiced under strict, legally defined circumstances. The studies in this book shed light on the possibility of societal control over euthanasia, physicians’ reporting behavior, their adherence to the safeguards of the euthanasia law, and their attitudes towards the use of life-ending drugs and towards the euthanasia law. As such, they offer valuable data driven information that can inform the debates about euthanasia that are currently going on in many countries. The euthanasia practice in Belgium. Behavior and attitudes regarding reporting and adherence to legal safeguards was written as a PhD dissertation.
