Agnes van der Heide, MD, PhD on Euthanasia

Last updated on: 7/27/2009 | Author:

Agnes van der Heide, MD, PhD Biography

Title:

Senior Researcher at the Department of Public Health at Erasmus University

Position:

Pro to the question "Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?"

Reasoning:

“Modern western health care and public health seem to involve a certain level of public demand for physician assistance in dying, in countries both where it is legal and where it is illegal. This demand makes discussion of this issue inevitable and necessary. A regulatory system allowing physician assistance in dying offers better guarantees for the quality of medical care and for patient involvement than does illegality.”

Cowritten with Johannes M. van Delden and Gerrit van der Wal, “Doctor-Assisted Dying: What Difference Does Legalisation Make?,” The Lancet, Dec. 2004

Involvement and Affiliations:

Senior Researcher, Department of Public Health, Erasmus University, Rotterdam (Holland) 1994-present
Advisor, ELD 3/Minors Project Group, Monitoring Quality of End-of-Life Care (MELC)

Education:

PhD, Department of Rheumatology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Holland, 1994
MD, Nijmegen University, Holland, 1991

Other:

None found

Quoted in:

Would Legalizing Physician-Assisted Suicide or Voluntary Euthanasia Create a Slippery Slope to Non-Voluntary or Involuntary Euthanasia?