Politics
Tuesday May 2, 2006
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
Dutch Oversight Authorities find Euthanasia on the Rise
by Hilary White
AMSTERDAM, May 2, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For the third year in a row, medical authorities in the Netherlands have reported an increase in the number of legal euthanasia cases. Regional Oversight Boards for Euthanasia showed doctors reported 1,933 cases in 2005, up from 1,886 in 2004 and 1,815 in 2003.
Many studies have shown that the number of actual cases of doctors killing their patients is roughly twice what is officially reported, despite laws making the practice legal.
Earlier this year, a study produced in Holland, found that at least 50% of patients requesting euthanasia were seriously depressed, with 44% of those suffering from cancer suffering signs of clinical depression when they asked for euthanasia.
While the “safeguards” in the Dutch euthanasia program do require doctors to determine that a patient asking for euthanasia is “of sound mind,” there is no requirement that they not be suffering depression.
Belgium, a country in close lock step with the Netherlands in its social and legal restructuring, has found a similar steady rise in the use of euthanasia. Last year, Belgian reports showed that doctors were killing an average of one patient a day following the Netherlands’ average of five a day. Belgium’s 2005 report showed that 80% of the euthanasia requesters were Dutch-speaking residents of Flanders.
In October 2005, an international group of physicians from a wide spectrum of specialties issued a joint statement citing the Netherlands to show that once legalized, euthanasia becomes nearly impossible to control and leads inevitably to patients being killed without consent. Euthanasia, they say, erodes patient autonomy and creates an atmosphere in which it is considered “easier to kill a patient than to treat.”
“Euthanasia,” said the group’s statement, would become an “acceptable treatment option for conditions such as depression, stress, loneliness, fear of impending disease or fear of decline, but also for disabled children or adults.”
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Euthanasia Rates Double in Belgium
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06020707.html
Dutch Study Shows Patients Requesting Euthanasia Likely Depressed
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06011607.html
Read physician joint statement:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05102603.html
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Over 100 MPs Oppose Morgentaler Order of Canada - List Released Today
- National Right to Life calls GOP Platform "Strongest Ever" on Life Issues
- Exclusive: Prominent Rabbi Says Lieberman was Excommunicated and it is Still in Effect
- Comments on August 28 LifeSiteNews
- McCain Himself Accuses Obama of Courting Infanticide
- Two More Bishops Make 8 Who Have Come Out against Pelosi's 'Catholic' Abortion Theology
- VP Hopeful Biden about Pro-Abortion Stance: "My Views are Totally Consistent with Catholic Social Doctrine..."
- Protests and Official Mourning Declared following Mexican Pro-Abortion Ruling
- Pure Utilitarianism: Doctors Justifying Killing Infant Patients for Organ Donation
- Philippines Court Rejects Claims of New York Based Pro-Abortion Group
- MPs Affirm Continued Support for C-484 - Unborn Victims of Crime Bill
- Brazilian Supreme Court Hears Testimony on Eugenic Abortions
- Cells Transformed into Insulin Producers in Research that Makes Embryonic Research "Irrelevant"
- Priests for Life Nine Week Novena Prayer for Election Begins September 1st
Most Read this Week
- Biden's Bishop Will not Permit Him, Even if Elected VP, to Speak at Catholic Schools
- "Catholic" Speaker Pelosi Denies that Catholicism Condemns Abortion
- Cardinals, Bishops and Congressmen Slam Pelosi on Abortion
- Talk a Woman out of Abortion in the UK? Two Years Jail
- Mainstream Media Admits Anti-Family Bias: NBC to 'Gay' Activists: 'Your Victories Are Our Victories'
- Pelosi Spokeswoman About-face: Catholic Church "Clear" on Life Teaching After All - But Catholics Need Not Listen
- American Apparel Defends "Pornographic" Billboards
- New York Cardinal - Pelosi Not Worthy of "Providing Leadership in a Civilized Democracy"
- Conservative Party of Canada Kills Unborn Victims of Crime Act with Gutless Alternative
- Pro-Life Billboard Vandalized with "Joker" Face Paint and Slogan: "Why So Serious?"
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.