Résumé
Euthanasia is the act by which a third party (a physician or qualified healthcare practitioner) intentionally terminated a patient’s life by the patient’s request—the doctor administers the prescription. Physicianassisted suicide is where a physician or healthcare practitioner provide the means to a patient under the patient’s request, which will intentionally terminate the patient’s life—the individual then selfadministers the prescription. Assisted suicide is where a physician or a healthcare practitioner is not directly involved and usually another third member or organization would assist in providing the patient with the means for selfadministered suicide. This text presents the available data from the Benelux region on euthanasia and physicianassisted suicide requests that are grounded in psychiatric disorders. From a psychiatrist’s point of view, clinical and ethical questions are raised by such practices, since suicide prevention is a primary purpose of psychiatric care and a key focus of training.