Table 3 43 themes emerging out of interviews with 18 GPs about the death of a patient

1. Good farewell*

1. Being a backstage director*

1. Feelings of guilt, responsibility and powerlessness*

2. Holding on and letting go by the patient; balance in autonomy*

2. Nearness and distance; the doctor as a person in the relationship*

2. Purpose and meaning of life, death and suffering*

3. Orientation of patient towards expressing and sharing feelings and thoughts*

3. Guidance (not steering); being available for patients*

3. View on suffering: how much is a patient allowed to suffer, to what extent does suffering belong to life*

4. Peace

4. Typical tasks of the GP*

4. (Hidden) mission*

5. Beautiful

5. Helpful

5. Closure of life*

6. Effect of stage of life; degree of prematurity

6. Giving room and paying attention

6. Personal experiences with death; relation with one's own death*

7. Fits into a person's life

7. Professional responsibility

7. Religion

8. Availability and accessibility of the GP

8. GP as privileged partner with privileged knowledge

8. Partner in intimacy; admiration and amazement

9. Nature and intensity of disease

9. Showing and experiencing respect

9. Leaving one's own norms behind

10. Environment

10. Carefulness

10. Grief

11. Religion or world view

11. Self-care

11. Internalization of norms

12. Feeling that one is part of a larger entity

12. Doctor as a professional in the relationship

12. Sharing with colleagues or at home as a way of dealing with experiences

13. Medicine as an art

13. Experiences in life and in the profession

14. Euthanasia

14. Identification with patients

15. Influence of doctor-patient relationship

16. Pleasure in recognizing and identifying the patient as a person

17. Learning from the death of others; absorbing experiences