Doctors And Lawyers Dealing With Death And Dying

About

In this multi-disciplinary one-week course, students will be introduced to the Dutch law on Euthanasia, the medical practices at the end-of-life in and outside of the Netherlands, and the current ethical, legal and medical challenges. The Netherlands is one of the few countries in the world with a legal provision to allow physicians to provide their patients with assistance in dying. Having such regulation, however, has not ended the societal debate about the role of physicians in death and dying. Complicated ethical and legal problems remain for many patient groups, such as children between 1-12 years old, psychiatric patients, individuals who are tired of life, and patients with dementia. In addition, ethical and legal challenges exist because of the procedural difference in euthanasia and assisted suicide on the one hand (both acts under criminal law that need to be reported and reviewed) and palliative sedation on the other hand (which is considered normal medical treatment that requires no reporting). At the moment, many other countries are engaged in the question of whether to sanction assistance in suicide and/or euthanasia. The aim of this course is to broaden the knowledge of the students (and doctors) on various medical, legal, and ethical challenges of questions at the end of life, and learn to reflect on these issues based on facts and figures.

Course leader

Michelle Habets

Target group

Mainly PhD-students, but also MA students.

Course aim

Learning outcomes
Knowledge objectives:
Understanding of the Dutch law, in particular the due care requirements.
Students can apply this knowledge to cases.
The students will have an understanding of the medical guidelines regarding end-of-life decision making.
The students will gain background knowledge and insight in discussions on medical decision at the end-of-life.
Students will gain an insight in the ethical issues involving medical decisions at the end of life.
Students will learn about the practice of end-of-life care in the Netherlands.
Students will learn about medical, legal and ethical practices and challenges outside of the Netherlands.

Learning skills
Students will learn to reflect on their own viewpoint of end-of-life questions, as well as others.
Student will be able to form an argument- based opinion on end-of-life issues.

Fee info