New Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide (EAS) Briefing Paper: ‘Euthanasia Case Studies from Belgium: Concerns About Legislation and Hope for Palliative Care’, by Prof. Benoit Beuselinck

Our latest paper in our euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) series is ‘Euthanasia Case Studies from Belgium: Concerns About Legislation and Hope for Palliative Care’ by Prof. Benoit Beuselinck, Professor of Medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven / Louvain in Belgium.

In his paper, Prof. Beuselinck presents a number of real-life example cases from the medical front line of end-of-life care, and draws out some of the lessons that might be learned from those cases, such as the difficulty of estimating life expectancy, the confusion and distrust euthanasia causes in palliative care, how patients with major life-events to look forward to can live longer than prognosed, and the emotional cost of emphasising patient autonomy on the family of those presenting for EAS.

The papers in our EAS series clarify the issues at stake in the social, political, and medical discussion, examining the definitions concerning, and practical consequences of legalising physician involvement in assisting a patient to end their own life, or directly causing their death.

You can read our ongoing EAS briefing paper series on its dedicated page on our website, here.