AIDS, euthanasia and grief

Abstract

Almost 50% of people with AIDS in the Netherlands make the necessary arrangements for a possible death by the administration of thanatic drugs. In approximately 50% of those who arranged for it, euthanasia is performed. Euthanasia is a well-considered decision. By means of euthanasia people with AIDS want to prevent unbearable suffering and a degrading existence. Those who have arranged for euthanasia were proven to have adapted to the disease better than those who had not. No relationship was found between ending life by means of euthanasia and complicated grief in survivors. However, if the euthanasia process itself was complicated, the risk of complicated grief increased.