The Dutch Roll Out Mobile Euthanasia Clinics

Just when you think you have heard it all, the march towards widespread and wide-open doctor-prescribed suicide and euthanasia gets more bizarre. The Dutch, who have perfected the “art” of killing at the end of life, are now making mobile euthanasia clinics available.

According to a Dutch Press Review story, “De Volkskrant and Trouw report on a new development in euthanasia practice. De Volkskrant reports that, beginning in March, people who have been refused euthanasia by their own doctor will be able to call in one of six travelling teams. The groups, consisting of a doctor and a nurse, will be based in The Hague but will deal with cases throughout the country. The legal criteria that the patient must be in a situation of unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement will still apply.”

So, the patient’s doctor, who should be the individual with the most knowledge of the patient and his/her condition says no, and the patient can then shop around to find someone who will acquiesce to the request for death. No problem — except for the continued decay of the ethical premise that doctors and nurses are trained to cure and heal, not cause or assist the death of patients.

Barbara Lyons