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Netherlands: hundreds euthanized without patient’s request

July 06, 2017

New statistics on the use of physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands show that hundreds of patients were given lethal drugs without a request from the patients.

The figures for 2015—the most recent statistics available—show 431 cases in which the patient’s life was ended without an explicit request.

The figures also show that 1,693 cases of assisted suicide—more than 20% of the total for 2015—were not formally reported.

The figures provide strong support for arguments that the law governing assisted-suicide in the Netherlands is not rigorously enforced.

 


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  • Posted by: nix898049 - Jul. 10, 2017 4:12 PM ET USA

    They'll do it at the request of the mother here. And if there are laws governing abortion they are similarly enforced, it seems. Could the term slippery slope apply here? Who'd EVER have thought?

  • Posted by: feedback - Jul. 07, 2017 12:37 PM ET USA

    Bishops and priests who downplay or encourage sinful lifestyle for the flock entrusted to their care, "because Jesus loves the sinner," act the same way as those suicide doctors. Jesus - the Divine Physician - offers healing from sin and not a suicide.

  • Posted by: rpp - Jul. 07, 2017 9:53 AM ET USA

    When doctors are called upon to end life, trying to save life begins to matter less and less. Prescribing a lethal dose of drugs is easier treating a difficult case.