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WEDNESDAY, 30 MARCH 2016
The Netherlands is normalising euthanasia
A former member of a euthanasia review board in the Netherlands has written a stinging attack on the policy he once formed part of.
Dr Theo de Boer, professor of health care ethics at the Theological University in Kampen and associate professor of ethics at the Protestant Theological University in Groningen, speaks from a unique perspective. Not only was he involved in the adminstration of legalised euthanasia, he is also intimately familiar with arguments put forward by some Christian theologians to justify it.
Writing in the American Protestant magazine Christian Century this week, Dr de Boer says that from 2005 to 2014, he reviewed nearly 4,000 cases of assisted dying as a member of one of the five Dutch regional committees. He thought it was a “robust and humane system” and defended it at ecumenical gatherings.
However, in 2007, he says that the pace of euthanasia began to accelerate, rising by 15 percent each year. As the numbers soared, the criteria expanded. Even children became eligible. The biggest change was the reason for requesting death. Originally defenders of assisted dying described heart-breaking stories of tormented patients who just wanted to die peacefully. But this changed. Nowadays, many people simply want to take an early exit from loneliness or bereavement or meaninglessness.
Although some patients still request assisted dying out of fear of ineffective palliative care, an increasing number see euthanasia as the form of a good death after a trajectory of good palliative care. The unbearable suffering that they refer to increasingly consists of meaningless waiting rather than physical suffering. The “burning truck” example no longer applies to most cases. The issue now is autonomy—the patient’s right to a swift death, brought about by a doctor.Dr de Boer’s words are sobering. They suggest that once euthanasia has become established it becomes a normal treatment.
With overall mortality numbers remaining level, this means that today one in 25 deaths in the Netherlands is the consequence of assisted dying. On top of these voluntary deaths there are about 300 nonvoluntary deaths (where the patient is not judged competent) annually. These are cases of illegal killing, extracted from anonymous surveys among physicians, and therefore almost impossible to prosecute. There are also a number of palliative sedation cases—the estimate is 17,000 cases yearly, or 12 percent of all deaths—some of which may involve shortening the life of a patient considerably. Furthermore, contrary to claims made by many, the Dutch law did not bring down the number of suicides; instead suicides went up by 35 percent over the past six years.This is obligatory reading for anyone interested in the debate over euthanasia and assisted suicide.
A shift has also taken place in the type of patients who seek assisted dying. Whereas in the first years the vast majority of patients—about 95 percent—were patients with a terminal disease who had their lives ended days or weeks before a natural death was expected, an increasing number of patients now seek assisted dying because of dementia, psychiatric illnesses, and accumulated age-related complaints. Terminal cancer now accounts for fewer than 75 percent of the cases. Many of the remaining 25 percent could have lived for months, years, or even decades.
In some reported cases, the suffering largely consists of being old, lonely, or bereaved. For a considerable number of Dutch citizens, euthanasia is fast becoming the preferred, if not the only acceptable, mode of dying for cancer patients. Although the law treats assisted dying as an exception, public opinion is beginning to interpret it as a right, with a corresponding duty for doctors to become involved in these deaths. A law now in draft form would oblige doctors who refuse to administer euthanasia to refer their patients to a willing colleague.
Michael Cook is editor of MercatorNet
Most the great works of literature in the ancient world revolved around the importance of blood ties – from the individual to his clan, to the son to his father. There’s the 20-year voyage of Odysseus to find his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. There’s the tragedy of Oedipus, the man who did not know his father and paid dearly for the crime of unwittingly marrying his mother. There’s Antigone, who is executed for having buried her rebellious brother. And so on.
So it’s a bit puzzling to see the nonchalance with which our contemporaries treat children’s right to know their genetic mothers and fathers. Because of IVF, hundreds of thousands of children are born without knowing who their father is. With the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the US, we can expect an explosion in births to surrogate mothers. We are creating a generation of genetic orphans.
In today’s MercatorNet Fleur Letcher has written an excellent explanation of why blood really is thicker than water. She concludes:
I believe we all have an obligation to speak up against any policy or legislation that either deliberately deprives a child of his or her biological parents or fails to mimic a natural family structure. Our society has already apologised to the “Stolen Generation” and to children removed from their unwed mothers in the 1960s. I cannot help but wonder if we will be repeating this exercise to children whose biological ties have been deliberately severed by our “progressive” new concepts of family…
Michael Cook
Editor
MERCATORNET
| Who do we think we are? Fleur Letcher | FEATURES | 30 March 2016 |
 | The Netherlands is normalising euthanasia Michael Cook | CAREFUL! | 30 March 2016 A former member of a euthanasia review board is horrified at what is happening in his country Read more... |
 | Losing a parent to divorce affects educational ambition Nicole M. King | FAMILY EDGE | 30 March 2016 |
 | Belgium has divided and decentralized itself almost out of existence Georges Van Den Abbeele | FEATURES | 30 March 2016 |
 | Japan’s ageing crimewave Marcus Roberts | DEMOGRAPHY IS DESTINY | 30 March 2016 |
 | Supreme Court surprise move in Little Sisters case Sheila Liaugminas | SHEILA REPORTS | 30 March 2016 |
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The Netherlands is normalising euthanasia
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