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Penal Code (PC) regarding assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Article 293 PC

1 Anyone who deliberately ends the life of another at his explicit and serious wish will be punished (followed by the description of the punishment).

2 The act referred to in the first paragraph is not punishable if it was committed by a physician who meets the due care requirements referred to in Article 2 of the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act.

Article 294 PC

1 Anyone who deliberately incites another to suicide will be punished, if suicide follows (followed by the description of the punishment).

2 Anyone who deliberately assists another in committing suicide or provides him with the means to do so will be punished if suicide follows (followed by the description of the punishment), except the doctor (provided art. 293.2 applies).

The Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act.

The due care requirements mean that the doctor:

  1. has become convinced that there was a voluntary and well-considered request from the patient.

Note: the doctor decides.

  1. has become convinced that the patient’s suffering was hopeless and unbearable.

Note: the doctor decides.

  1. informed the patient about the situation he was in and about his prospects.
  2. came to the conclusion with the patient that there was no reasonable other solution for the situation in which the patient found himself.

Note: the patient does not ask for euthanasia for no reason. He has come already to the conclusion that no other solution is possible for him. So the patient has to convince the doctor as in an exam that he doesn’t see an alternative for euthanasia that he finds reasonable. In short: the doctor decides.

  1. has consulted at least one other, independent doctor, who has seen the patient and given his written opinion on the due care requirements referred to in parts 1 to 4.
  2. the termination of life or assisted suicide has been carried out with medical care.

The consequence of these laws is that in 2022, 1 in 3 euthanasia requests was still refused or not carried out (in a timely manner) or that terminal palliative sedation was used instead of euthanasia. In the Netherlands dying by terminal palliative sedation is considered a ‘natural death’.