2016-91, general practitioner, pulmonary disease, unbearable suffering without prospect of improvement

KEY POINT: straightforward notification

The patient, a man in his seventies, had suffered for years from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD (an incurable lung disease that permanently narrows the patient’s airways, causing them to gradually stop working properly). The disease is progressive and characterised by acute deteriorations.

In the month before his death, the patient’s condition again deteriorated rapidly, as a result of a blood clot in his lungs. His condition was incurable. The patient could only be treated palliatively (care aimed at improving quality of life). He was suffering from increasing shortness of breath, coughing, exhaustion and decreased mobility. On several occasions he felt as if he were suffocating. He could hardly do anything except sit in a chair. The patient had become completely dependent on others for his personal care. He suffered from the fear of suffocating and the absence of any prospect of improvement in his situation. He experienced his suffering as unbearable.

The physician concluded that the request was voluntary and wellconsidered. He had also consulted an independent physician, who concluded that the due care criteria had been complied with.
The physician performed the euthanasia with due medical care.

The committee found that the physician had acted in accordance with all the due care criteria.