Review comittees

Review committees have been set up to assess notifications of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the following five regions:

• Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe (secretariat in Groningen)
• Overijssel, Gelderland, Utrecht and Flevoland (secretariat in Arnhem)
• North Holland (secretariat in The Hague)
• South Holland and Zeeland (secretariat in The Hague)
• North Brabant and Limburg (secretariat in Arnhem).

The committee in the region where the patient dies is competent to assess the case.

The committees are independent bodies consisting of an odd number of members of which at least one is a legal expert (and also acts as chair), one a doctor and one an ethicist. Each of them has an alternate. The chair, members and alternates are appointed by the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport for a period of six years. Each committee is assisted by a secretary (a lawyer) and one or more alternate secretaries. The secretaries and support staff form the secretariats. Organisationally speaking, the secretariats fall under the Central Information Unit on Health Care Professions, an agency of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.

The committees meet at least once a month. They assess each case separately. Their findings (with names removed) are available on this website. The committees publish a joint annual report each year, stating the number of notifications of euthanasia and assisted suicide, the nature of each case and a selection of findings and the considerations involved.