There is no reason to believe that assisted suicide attempts run into fewer complications in this country. In fact, it seems logical to assume that the more open practice in the Netherlands would lead to a greater sharing of information and fewer complications there. Better sooner than later. Within the U.S. medical establishment, however, Nuland's is a rare voice. The opponents of this practice can be brash and harsh and vitriolic, and physicians are not eager to expose themselves to that.
Medical literature offers almost no practical advice on the practice.
Doctors are apparently hungry for information. As a highly controversial yet widely practiced procedure undertaken haphazardly, and below the radar of medical schools and professional associations, assisted suicide invites comparison to abortion in the years before Roe vs. Wade. Of course, clinical realities are seldom as clearly defined as legal ones. Many opponents of physician-assisted suicide accept the propriety of the double effect. This is due in large part to growing interest in palliative care, the medical treatment of pain and suffering.