Post by fenrisulfr on Apr 18, 2018 17:15:57 GMT
In Holland euthanasia is permitted under certain guidelines but they are now debating those guidelines. They even have a cheap and painless suicide powder dubbed “Substance X”.
www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-euthanasia/substance-x-furor-rekindles-dutch-debate-on-loosening-euthanasia-rules-idUSKBN1HP0VY
What’s happening now is that the discussion in countries where euthanasia is legal is shifting to whether ending life is a medical issue or a human rights one, said Philip Nitschke, the Australian founder of pro-euthanasia group Exit International.
For such a small country 6585 assisted deaths seems a hell of a lot. There was a trip to Switzerland for UK residents if you could afford it and if I remember rightly a lad in a nearby village made that trip after being paralysed from the neck down after a sports accident.
How do you feel about having the Dutch system here?
www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-euthanasia/substance-x-furor-rekindles-dutch-debate-on-loosening-euthanasia-rules-idUSKBN1HP0VY
STRICT CRITERIA
The Netherlands placed demanding conditions on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide when it was legalized in 2002.
Patients have to be experiencing unbearable physical or mental suffering, with no prospect for improvement, and have to have asked repeatedly to die. Qualified medical doctors decide whether those criteria have been met.
A second opinion must be sought and the process reviewed by an independent panel, which has the power to refer cases to the authorities and to reprimand or refer doctors if necessary.
The current law thus clearly distinguishes what happens in the Netherlands from assisted suicide, legal experts said.
“A person who intentionally helps another with suicide or provides the means” faces a prison sentence of three years or a fine, said prosecution spokeswoman Mary Hallebeek.
“The only exception is if you are a doctor and you adhere to the strict criteria laid down in the euthanasia law.”
The number of euthanasia cases in the Netherlands rises every year. The 6,585 cases in 2017 accounted for 4.4 percent of deaths and was up 4 percent from 2016, according to RTE, an umbrella organization of regional review bodies.
The Netherlands placed demanding conditions on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide when it was legalized in 2002.
Patients have to be experiencing unbearable physical or mental suffering, with no prospect for improvement, and have to have asked repeatedly to die. Qualified medical doctors decide whether those criteria have been met.
A second opinion must be sought and the process reviewed by an independent panel, which has the power to refer cases to the authorities and to reprimand or refer doctors if necessary.
The current law thus clearly distinguishes what happens in the Netherlands from assisted suicide, legal experts said.
“A person who intentionally helps another with suicide or provides the means” faces a prison sentence of three years or a fine, said prosecution spokeswoman Mary Hallebeek.
“The only exception is if you are a doctor and you adhere to the strict criteria laid down in the euthanasia law.”
The number of euthanasia cases in the Netherlands rises every year. The 6,585 cases in 2017 accounted for 4.4 percent of deaths and was up 4 percent from 2016, according to RTE, an umbrella organization of regional review bodies.
What’s happening now is that the discussion in countries where euthanasia is legal is shifting to whether ending life is a medical issue or a human rights one, said Philip Nitschke, the Australian founder of pro-euthanasia group Exit International.
For such a small country 6585 assisted deaths seems a hell of a lot. There was a trip to Switzerland for UK residents if you could afford it and if I remember rightly a lad in a nearby village made that trip after being paralysed from the neck down after a sports accident.
How do you feel about having the Dutch system here?
