A study of euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands has revealed that most cases in the country stem from loneliness.

According to The Catholic Herald, a team of US researchers from the National Institute of Health undertook a full examination of the so-called psychiatric reasons considered when a patient sought to avail of euthanasia between the years 2011 and 2014 and found that, of 66 cases reviewed, 37 – some 56% of the total – social isolation was a key motivator for a patient.

The researchers concluded that the Netherlands is now operating a de facto euthanasia on demand service, even though current law specifies that a patient must be experiencing ‘unbearable suffering’ due to an untreatable condition.

More worryingly, the research team also found evidence that candidates for euthanasia are now able to seek out doctors more likely to sign off on their requests, as well as clinics and mobile units willing to override family doctors who may have previously argued against euthanasia as the answer to a patient’s situation. The team cited one case in which a woman sought and gained euthanasia having experienced loneliness after the death of her husband a year before.

The latest study was released just a month after doctors in the Netherlands were granted new powers to euthanise dementia sufferers, even in cases where the patient is unable to express a choice. New guidelines attempt to cover this reality by insisting that the patient must previously have signed an advance directive on the issue while they have full mental capacity.

The ‘loneliness factor’ which has been revealed by the study also serves to explain the sharply increasing rate of euthanasia in the Netherlands, where there were 5,306 deaths by the practice in 2014. Observers expect the figure to top 6,000 for 2015.

Responding to the Netherlands study, Phil Friend of Not Dead Yet UK said the revelations by the US team demonstrated how far down the “slippery slope” the Netherlands has gone since euthanasia had been legalised in 2002.