Role and involvement of life end information forum physicians in euthanasia and other end-of-life care decisions in Flanders, Belgium
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OBJECTIVE: To describe role and involvement of Life End Information Forum (LEIF) physicians in end-of-life care decisions and euthanasia in Flanders. STUDY DESIGN: All 132 LEIF physicians in Belgium received a questionnaire inquiring about their activities in the past year, and their end-of-life care training and experience. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Response rate was 75 percent. Most respondents followed substantive training in end-of-life care. In 1 year, LEIF physicians were contacted 612 times for consultations in end-of-life decisions, of which 355 concerned euthanasia requests eventually resulting in 221 euthanasia cases. LEIF physicians also gave information about various end-of-life issues (including palliative care) to patients and colleagues. CONCLUSIONS: LEIF physicians provide a forum for information and advice for physicians and patients. A similar health service providing support to physicians for all end-of-life decisions could also be beneficial for countries without a euthanasia law.
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Guideline II strongly advises not only the involvement of an interdisciplinary team but also the provision of extensive additional support, including a central End-of-Life Support Group, a local End-of-Life Support Group, and optionally trained LEIF physicians.
“Guideline II strongly advises not only the involvement of an interdisciplinary team but also the provision of extensive additional support.Going beyond the legal requirements, this additional support is recommended to involve: 1) a central, interdisciplinary End-of-Life Support Group (covering all the psychiatric centers of this network and open to external experts), established in order to gain”
From Psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia: Guidelines for sound clinical and ethical decision making (2019) · cites this paper as Van Wesemael et al., 2009
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“In Belgium, official statistics reveal higher propensities for euthanasia in the Flemish region [22], with most research predominantly focussed on Flanders [23,24].”
- Authors
- Van Wesemael, Y., Cohen, J., Onwuteaka‐Philipsen, B. D., Bilsen, J., Distelmans, W., & Deliens, L.
- Affiliations
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)
- Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (BE)
- Venue
- Health Services Research
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-11-13
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 2180-2192
- ISSN
- 0017-9124 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-6773
- PMC
- PMC2796321
- OpenAlex
- W2048748160
- Cited by
- 48
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 5.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Health Services Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Digital Academic REpository of VU University Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion)
- DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
- VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Universiteit Gent
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel
- Vlaamse regering
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Ethics and bioethics in healthcare
- Keywords
- euthanasia, end-of-life care decisions, palliative care, end-of-life care training, physician consultation, euthanasia legislation, Flanders
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attitude to Death, Belgium, Decision Making, Euthanasia, Group Processes, Humans, Middle Aged, Physician's Role, Physicians, Surveys and Questionnaires, Referral and Consultation, Terminally Ill
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