The long awaited 2011 report of the Dutch Euthanasia Review Committees has been published recently. The Dutch report can be found here. Translations in English, French and German will appear later this year. Summary of the results:Reported cases 2011: 3695 (of which 3346 euthanasia, 196 physician assisted suicide and 53 a combination)
This number implies a rise of 18% compared with 2010, a rising rate that is shown since 2006. Cause for this rise is one of the (main) subjects of the national Evaluation to be published end of this year.
As former years, most cases concerned terminal cancer patients, with a remarkable higher number for dementia (49) and (chronic) psychiatric patients (13).
Only 4 of these 3695 cases were referred to the authorities (Prosecution and Health Inspection) because they did not comply with the legal due care criteria.
Interesting cases are – as other years – described as cases in this report.
Webmasters comment: The lateness of the publication is probably due to the
increased workload of the Committees.