NOS | Jeroen van Eijndhoven
-
Silvia Geurts
editor Nieuwsuur
-
Silvia Geurts
editor Nieuwsuur
Every year, approximately 700 people die in the Netherlands due to consciously stopping eating and drinking. Until now, this method was not recommended for people under the age of 60, but that age limit now expires in the new guideline from the KNMG medical federation.
According to the KNMG, younger people who no longer want to live should also be able to get help in stopping eating and drinking. “The reason for maintaining an age limit in the old guideline was that at the time no patients were actually described who were under the age of 60 and who brought the process to an end,” says Alexander de Graeff, chairman of the committee that developed the new guideline. wrote.
In the past ten years, there have been cases of people under 60 who ended their lives in this way, sometimes with the help of a hospice. For the KNMG, that is enough reason to remove the age limit. Hospices are still unsure how to deal with this younger target group, especially if their wish to die stems from psychological problems.
Completed life
In principle, hospices only offer care and guidance to people who have a life expectancy of less than three months due to illness. But last year research showed News hour that they are receiving a growing number of registrations from people who want to die by stopping eating and drinking.
These often concern older people who consider their lives to be complete and do not want to become dependent on care, but who do not otherwise have a life-threatening condition. Euthanasia is not an option for them. A large majority of hospices said they would admit these people.
Sometimes the hospices also receive requests from relatively young people who are physically healthy, but who no longer want to live due to psychological problems, loneliness or a lack of meaning. This creates dilemmas for healthcare staff. Because quitting eating and drinking is a more difficult process for younger people.
“They suffer more from thirst and other complaints. It also takes a long time for younger people to die,” it says brochure of the Dutch Association for a Voluntary End of Life. This makes the process difficult not only for the person undergoing it, but also for healthcare providers who assist the patient.
Cathelijne Verboeket-Crul, nurse specialist in palliative care at Academic Hospice Demeter, can discuss this. She recently assisted Ineke, who at the age of 66 chose to stop eating and drinking.
Ineke became too thirsty, so she could not continue the route:
‘It was a thirst I had never experienced before’
“Out of humanity, you want nothing more than to give the patient water,” says Verboeket-Crul. “At the same time, as a nurse you feel a great responsibility to help the patient and you know that you are not helping someone by giving a glass of water. Maybe in the moment itself, but in the end you prolong the process and postpone death, while a patient would like that.”
Due to these types of difficulties, hospice Demeter temporarily no longer accepts people who are physically healthy, but want to stop eating and drinking due to a lack of meaning, loneliness or other psychological problems. Not even over 60.
The Dutch Psychiatry Association advocates more cooperation between hospices and mental health care when a death wish is probably due to psychological problems. Chairman Niels Mulder: “If it turns out that there are psychological problems going on, you want to be able to ask a psychiatrist to help you think about it. What is going on here? For example, can we still offer therapy or another form of guidance, so that they still see life prospects.”
KNMG committee chairman De Graeff, who is also affiliated with Demeter as a hospice doctor, believes that there should be room for this target group. “If a patient has made a well-considered choice, then we can have all kinds of opinions about it. But if a patient wants to do this, it is better for him to do it with guidance than without guidance.”
Are you thinking about suicide or worried about someone? Talking about suicide helps and can be done anonymously via chat at www.113.nl or by telephone on 113 or 0800-0113.
2024-01-23 22:14:40
#Doctors #life #stopping #eating #drinking #people
