27 november 2004: Bron: British Medical Journal

Nederlandse onderzoekers uit het UMC - Utrechts Medisch Centrum publiceerden al in 24 juli 2003 in Birtish Medical Journal een studie die aantoonde dat familieleden van kankerpatiënten die kozen voor euthanasie beter hun verdriet verwerken en het sterven accepteren dan als de kankerpatiënten zijn overleden door de natuurlijke dood. De studie zou daarmee niet aantonen dat euthanasie altijd moet worden toegepast, maar wel dat de zelfde zorg en aandacht als lijkt te gebeuren bij het proces voorafgaand aan euthanasie welkom zou zijn bij alle kankerpatiënten. Aldus een commentaar van de onderzoekers. Achtereenvolgens het abstract uit Pubmed en artikel uit British Midical Journal over zlefde studie.

Effects of euthanasia on the bereaved family and friends: a cross sectional study.
Swarte NB, van der Lee ML, van der Bom JG, van den Bout J, Heintz AP.
Department of Gynaecology, F05.829, University Medical Center Utrecht, PO Box 85500, 3508 GA Utrecht, Netherlands. n.swarte@azu.nl

OBJECTIVE: To assess how euthanasia in terminally ill cancer patients affects the grief response of bereaved family and friends. DESIGN: Cross sectional study. SETTING: Tertiary referral centre for oncology patients in Utrecht, the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: 189 bereaved family members and close friends of terminally ill cancer patients who died by euthanasia and 316 bereaved family members and close friends of comparable cancer patients who died a natural death between 1992 and 1999. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Symptoms of traumatic grief assessed by the inventory of traumatic grief, current feelings of grief assessed by the Texas revised inventory of grief, and post-traumatic stress reactions assessed by the impact of event scale.

RESULTS: The bereaved family and friends of cancer patients who died by euthanasia had less traumatic grief symptoms (adjusted difference -5.29 (95% confidence interval -8.44 to -2.15)), less current feeling of grief (adjusted difference 2.93 (0.85 to 5.01)); and less post-traumatic stress reactions (adjusted difference -2.79 (-5.33 to -0.25)) than the family and friends of patients who died of natural causes. These differences were independent of other risk factors.

CONCLUSIONS: The bereaved family and friends of cancer patients who died by euthanasia coped better with respect to grief symptoms and post-traumatic stress reactions than the bereaved of comparable cancer patients who died a natural death. These results should not be interpreted as a plea for euthanasia, but as a plea for the same level of care and openness in all patients who are terminally ill.

PMID: 12881258 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

BMJ-British Medical Journal

Families cope better after euthanasia than natural death Effects of euthanasia on the bereaved family and friends: a cross sectional study BMJ Volume 327, pp 189-92 The bereaved family and friends of cancer patients who die by euthanasia have less grief symptoms and post-traumatic stress reactions than the bereaved of comparable cancer patients who die a natural death, finds a study in this week's BMJ. Researchers from the Netherlands assessed 189 bereaved family members and close friends of terminally ill cancer patients who died by euthanasia and 316 bereaved family members and close friends of comparable cancer patients who died a natural death between 1992 and 1999.

The family and friends of cancer patients who died by euthanasia had less traumatic grief symptoms, less current feeling of grief, and less post-traumatic stress reactions than the family and friends of cancer patients who died of natural causes. These differences were independent of other risk factors.

Possible explanations for less grief symptoms among the family and friends of patients who died by euthanasia include the opportunity to say goodbye, being more prepared for the way and day of the imminent death, and being able to talk openly about death, say the authors.

"Our results should not be interpreted as a plea for euthanasia, but as a plea for the same level of care and openness in all patients who are terminally ill," they conclude.
 


Plaats een reactie ...

Reageer op "Familie verwerkt verdriet van overlijden van kankerpatiënt door euthanasie beter dan als de kankerpatiënt sterft door natuurlijk stervensproces."


Gerelateerde artikelen