Department of General Practice/Family Medicine, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Euthanasia is becoming an accepted procedure in The Netherlands. It can be a dignified way to end a life if administered only after a voluntary, well-considered request of long duration by a person undergoing unbearable suffering. Discussion of the patient's condition, technicalities, and judicial consequences with the next of kin, attendants, a pastor, and another physician is a necessary prelude. As defined in The Netherlands, euthanasia must bring about death, be implemented by another person, and be in response to an explicit request by a patient.