Euthanasia may reduce grief for those left behind

An unnatural death, such as a suicide, can cause family members to experience an unusually severe grief. Some experts have speculated that physician-assisted suicide would also cause severe grief. Not so, says a study in the Netherlands, where 3,200 people -- 80% of them cancer patients -- choose euthanasia each year. In fact, researchers at the University of Utrecht found that bereaved survivors of cancer patients who died as a result of euthanasia appeared to cope better with the loss than did those close to someone who had died naturally from the disease.

For each of the 78 people who died by euthanasia in a hospital, the researchers identified two others of the same age and sex who died naturally during the same year. Traumatic grief was twice as high among the friends and family of those who died a natural death as those who chose to die by euthanasia. Bereaved relatives and friends of those who died by euthanasia were also less likely to experience post-traumatic stress.

The study appeared in the July 26 issue of the British Medical Journal.

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-- Dianne Partie Lange