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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Jul 27.
Published in final edited form as: JAMA Psychiatry. 2016 Apr;73(4):362–368. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.2887

Table 5.

Physician roles in evaluation of EAS requests from patients (N=66) with psychiatric disorders.

Variable Frequency %
EAS physician1 is a psychiatrist
Y 27 41
N 36 55
Unable to code 3 4.5
Number of official EAS consultants1
1 33 50
2 26 39
3 7 11
Number of SCEN consultants1
0 1 1.5
1 52 79
2 10 15
3 3 4.5
Psychiatrist is one of EAS consultants 39 59
Psychiatrist second opinions1
1 31 46
2 5 7.6
No independent psychiatrist involved (no EAS consultant psychiatrist and no second opinion) 7 11
Number of physicians engaged in discussion of the case (not counting EAS physician)
1 11 17
2 31 46
3 17 26
4 4 6.1
5 1 1.5
Unable to code 2 3.0
Disagreement among experts giving opinion 16 24
Nature of disagreement (some cases had more than one)
Unbearable suffering 1 n/a
Well considered request/competent request 8
Hopeless or no reasonable treatment 13
Psychiatry EAS consultant says due care ‘not met’ but primary care EAS consultant says due care ‘met’ 8 12
1

EAS physician is the physician performing EAS who also submits the EAS report to the RTE; EAS consultant is the consultant engaged by EAS physician specifically for purpose of meeting the ‘independent consultation’ due care criterion; SCEN (Support and Consultation on Euthanasia in the Netherlands) are physicians who have been trained to provide EAS consultations. Second opinion physicians provide a clinical expert opinion on the case but are not specified as official EAS consultants in the case.