Euthanasia Slippery Slope in Free-Fall in The Netherlands

The slippery slope in The Netherlands has become a free-fall where “guidelines,” sold as safeguards for patients (wink, wink), are nothing more than a green light to make more people eligible for euthanasia or doctor-prescribed suicide. The stories are endless — just in the past few weeks, news reports reveal that at the beginning of March, mobile euthanasia units will roam the country looking for patients seeking euthanasia. The British Medical Journal (9/17/11) reports that in 2010, there were 3,136 euthanasia deaths, a 19% increase over the 2009 total of 2,636.

According to Wesley J. Smith (as reported in the most recent newsletter of the Patients Rights Council), “Dutch doctors have gone from euthanizing the terminally ill to the chronically ill, to people with serious disabilities, to those who are emotionally and mentally ill, as well as infants born with serious disabilities.” Just last week, this blog featured Smith’s writings on a report that a woman with macular degeneration was euthanized.

Also according to the Patients Rights Council: “In 2010, 21 early-stage dementia patients were euthanized by lethal injection, calling into question their ability to make an informed choice and voluntarily request death. Also in 2010, the life of a 64-year-old woman with severe, late-stage Alzheimer’s was terminated even though she was unquestionably incapable of asking for death. The Dutch Medical Association argued that patients ‘in early (or late) stages of dementia…. have equal recourse’ under the euthanasia law. [British Medical Journal, 11/21/11)”

But, even this isn’t enough. Groups in The Netherlands are fighting to legalize euthanasia (what they call “dying assistance”) for those 70 and older for reasons of “humanity.”

Yet, proponents of euthanasia somehow claim there is no slippery slope. Perhaps they are right, since the slope is clearly in free-fall, with no person or condition “safe” from those who advocate death.

Barbara Lyons