Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in patients suffering from psychiatric disorders: a cross-sectional study exploring the experiences of Dutch psychiatrists

Table 2 Background characteristics of patients of whom the request for EAS was refused^a

	n = 66
	%	n
Age, years
16–49 years	42.4	28
50–64	39.4	26
65–79	10.6	7
80+	7.6	5
Gender
Female	62.5	40
Male	37.5	24
Psychiatric main diagnosis^b
Personality disorder	59.1	39
Mood disorder	50.0	33
Psychotic disorder	16.7	11
Autism spectrum disorder	9.1	6
Other	10.6	7
Secondary diagnosis
No	35.9	23
Yes	64.1	41
Psychiatric	45.3	29
Somatic	9.4	6
Psychiatric and somatic	9.4	6
Place of residence at the time of the request
Home or with relatives	62.1	41
Mental health facility	24.2	16
Assisted living facility	6.1	4
Psychiatric ward of a general hospital	3.0	2
Other	4.5	3
Time under treatment prior to the first explicit request^c
< 1 month	40.9	27
1–12 months	28.8	19
> 12 months	30.3	20
Expected life-expectancy at the time or request
≤ 12 months	3.0	2
> 12 months	97.0	63
Ability to communicate substantively with the patient
Good	48.5	31
Reasonably good	28.1	18
Moderately good	20.3	13
Little to none	3.1	2

^aMissing observations varied between 0 and 2 (0–3%)
^bMore than one answer possible
^cThis question only concerned the time under treatment with the participating psychiatrist. It is very likely that patients have previously been treated by other psychiatrists

ISSN: 1471-244X