The relationship between palliative care and assisted dying: complexities and challenges in practice

1-2024 to 12-2027

In coming decades, more and more people will require palliative care. Simultaneously, 250 million people worldwide live in assisted dying permissive jurisdictions and in many others it is on the political agenda. International and national palliative care organizations have expressed concerns regarding assisted dying and its relationship to palliative care, and advocate against engaging in the practice. There is a true paucity of empirical knowledge regarding this relationship in practice, even in Flanders. The ethical debate has also not been systematically scrutinized in empirical studies. To ensure the best possible care for patients at the end of their lives and their families, there is a great need for research on how the context of legal assisted dying and requests for assisted dying affect the concrete provision of palliative care to patients, and interprofessional collaboration. Research objectives of this study are: 1- To study complexities and challenges in the relationship between palliative care and assisted dying in Flemish end-of-life practice 2- To study the prevalence of these complexities and to what extent actual experiences in practice reflect arguments made in the academic debate. These objectives will be met by a mixed method sequential research design: 
- WP1: Multimethod qualitative study among experienced professional stakeholders 
- WP2: Quantitative postal and web survey among experienced professional stakeholders

Research Foundation Flanders