Dutch court approves woman's choice for euthanasia, in spite of dementia diagnosis

August 13, 2015

A Dutch court approved the euthanasia of a dementia patient whose doctor said that she was not mentally competent to choose her own death, Mercatornet reports.

Cobi Luck, who was 80 years old, had suffered a disabling stroke and was entirely dependent on staff at the nursing home where she lived. But when she said that she wanted to arrange her own death, the nursing-home staff said that she was not capable of making rational decisions.

Luck’s family members—who had visited her just before she voiced her desire to die—sought and received a court order allowing a doctor to end her life.

Although physician-assisted suicide is legal in the Netherlands, the law requires the patient to make a clear and conscious choice for death. Critics of the law argue that there are no adequate safeguards against non-voluntary euthanasia.

 

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Further information:

• Dutch Court Orders Woman With Dementia Euthanized (MercatorNet)