This study found that friends and family of cancer patients who have an assisted death cope better than those of cancer patients who die naturally.
Nikkie B. Swarte, Marjie L van der Lee, Johanna G van der Bom, Jan van den Bout and A Peter M Heintz conducted a cross sectional study in the Netherlands. They compared the bereaved of patients who had an assisted death with the bereaved of matched control patients who had died of natural causes in the same hospital during the same time period.
They found that the bereaved of patients who had an assisted death had fewer grief symptoms and post-traumatic stress reactions on standard scales. The opportunity to say goodbye to the patient was found to be an important factor in relatives coping with their loss.
To access the study go here .