Reporting of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands: descriptive study

Table 2 Arguments for patient's suffering being unbearable or hopeless. (Questions phrased from the standard form of the reporting physician)

	n = 158¹ %
Could the suffering be considered unbearable? Please motivate.
Symptoms ²	62
Pain	32
Dyspnoea	22
Fatigue	15
Nausea/vomiting	15
Incontinence/diarrhoea/constipation	6
Cachexia	6
Confusion	3
Fear	3
Other³	9
Function loss ²	33
Bedridden	19
Appetite/thirst/eating- and swallowing capacity	10
Language	4
Other⁴	4
Other aspects ²	63
Dependency	28
Deterioration/general malaise	15
Hopelessness, no treatment possible	13
Loss of autonomy/identity	4
Loss of dignity	2
Mentally exhausted	7
Other⁵	16
Could the suffering be considered hopeless? Please motivate.
No treatments possible	32
No curative treatments possible	28
No treatments to relieve symptoms possible	3
No curative treatments + treatments to relieve symptoms possible	11
Short life expectancy	8
Other⁶	9
Not clearly specified in the report	8

1. In 8 cases (4%) the nature of patient's suffering was explained, but no explicit arguments for the suffering being unbearable were given.
2. More than one aspect could be mentioned.
3. Other include: decubitus, edema, epileptic insults, itch, and cough.
4. Other include: cognitive function, sleeping problems and general physical functioning.
5. Other include: loneliness, to be a burden to relatives, losing interest, mental suffering, no quality of life.
6. Other include: no differentiation between unbearable and hopeless suffering, worsening expected.