The term “euthanasia” also varies in its negative or positive connotations in different regions. In the Netherlands, “euthanasia” is reserved for the intervention by a physician to help a patient die by the intravenous route after a request, or what is elsewhere defined as voluntary active euthanasia (VAE) or “physician-administered physician-hastened death.” The term “passive euthanasia,” referring to death brought about by “allowing to die” or by withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, is no longer in common use in the United States or elsewhere.
Nonvoluntary euthanasia is known in the Netherlands as LAWER, “life-ending acts without explicit (current) request,” typically performed in a no-longer-competent patient who is close to death. In contrast, the broader term “euthanasia” is avoided in Germany, where it is often associated with Nazi extermination policies,…
