Table 3.

Characteristics of Received Counseling of Counselees Passing Away Self-Ingesting Self-Collected Lethal Medication (MED) Divided by Primary Underlying Suffering at Start of Counselling (according to counsellor) (N = 273; Missing N = 2).

	Primary underlying suffering
	All (N = 273)		Physical suffering (N = 114)		Psychiatric suffering (N = 86)		Psychological or no suffering (N = 71)
Characteristics	N	%	N	% (95% CI)	N	% (95% CI)	N	% (95% CI)
Number of personal consults	N = 273		N = 114		N = 86		N = 71
1	125	46	59	52 [43, 71]	38	44 [34, 55]	26	37 [26, 48]
2	89	33	28	25 [17, 33]	32	37 [28, 48]	29	41 [30, 53]
≥ 3 (max 14)	59	22	27	24 [17, 32]	16	19 [11, 28]	16	23 [14, 33]
Total number of contacts	N = 273		N = 114		N = 86		N = 71
1	6	2	6	5 [2, 11]	0	0 [0, 3]	0	0 [0, 3]
2–3	39	14	19	17 [11, 24]	13	15 [9, 24]	7	10 [4, 18]
4–6	101	37	44	39 [30, 48]	35	41 [31, 51]	20	28 [19, 39]
≥ 7 (max 36)	127	47	45	40 [31, 49]	38	44 [35, 55]	44	62 [50, 73]
Duration of counseling	N = 267 a		N = 110 a		N = 85 a		N = 70 a
≤ 3 months	123	46	48	44 [35, 53]	42	49 [39, 60]	33	47 [36, 59]
3–12 months	96	36	48	44 [35, 53]	28	33 [24, 43]	19	27 [18, 38]
> 12 months	48	18	14	13 [7, 20]	15	18 [11, 27]	18	26 [17, 37]
Content of counseling b	N = 251 a		N = 104 a		N = 77 a		N = 68 a
General information	248	99	102	98 [94, 100]	76	99 [94, 100]	68	100 [96, 100]
Moral support	250	100	103	99 [96, 100]	77	100 [97, 100]	68	100 [96, 100]
Mental support	230	92	94	90 [84, 95]	70	91 [83, 96]	64	94 [87, 98]
Counseling about others	222	88	99	95 [90, 98]	62	81 [71, 88]	59	87 [77, 93]
Information PAD	176	70	72	69 [60, 77]	56	73 [62, 82]	47	69 [58, 79]
Information preparation MED	247	98	103	99 [96, 100]	75	97 [92, 99]	68	100 [96, 100]
Information perform MED	248	98	103	99 [96, 100]	74	96 [90, 99]	68	100 [96, 100]
Legal information	247	98	103	99 [96, 100]	74	96 [90, 99]	67	99 [93, 100]
Involving others in counseling	N = 273		N = 114		N = 86		N = 71
Yes	186	68	93	82 [74, 88]	46	54 [43, 64]	46	65 [53, 75]
Which others involved	N = 148 c		N = 71 c		N = 39 c		N = 38 c
Partner	34	23	21	30 [20, 41]	7	18 [8, 32]	6	16 [7, 30]
Children	51	34	28	39 [29, 51]	5	13 [5, 26]	18	47 [32, 63]
Parents	10	7	3	4 [1, 11]	6	15 [7, 29]	1	3 [0, 12]
Other family and/or friends d	43	29	18	25 [16, 36]	15	39 [24, 54]	10	26 [14, 42]
Others (professionals) e	10	7	3	4 [1, 11]	4	10 [4, 23]	3	8 [2, 20]
Involved and/or openness	N = 262 a		N = 112 a		N = 81 a		N = 68 a
Involvement and/or openness	205	78	101	90 [84, 95]	54	67 [56, 76]	49	72 [61, 82]
No involvement nor openness	57	22	11	10 [5, 16]	27	33 [24, 44]	19	28 [18, 39]
Conversations with bereaved	N = 257 f		N = 108 f		N = 78 f		N = 69 a
Yes	149	55	72	67 [57, 75]	39	50 [39, 61]	38	55 [43, 66]

Note. CI = confidence interval; PAD = physician assistance in dying.

^aMissing less than 5%.

^bCategory only registered for deaths from 2012 (N = 254).

^cMissing ≥ 10%.

^dOther family and/or friends includes grandchild(ren), brother(s), sister(s), cousin, friend(s), and acquaintance(s).

^eOthers (professionals) include physician nurse, psychologist, Right-to-Die-Netherlands volunteer, therapist, legal representative, and documentary maker.

^fMissing 5% to 10%.