cmotherofpirl Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Weblog: Dutch Doctors Want to Kill the Healthy Plus: Sri Lanka's anti-conversion bill ruled unconstitutional, Namibia bans all religious broadcasting, violence against Christians thwarted in Indonesia and Philippines, and other stories from online sources around the world. Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 01/07/2005 2:15 p.m. Royal Dutch Medical Association: Doctors should be able to kill those who aren't ill A Zogby poll commissioned by two pro-euthanasia groups in Vermont found that 80 percent of that state's residents would support a bill allowing terminally ill patients to receive medication from their doctors to hasten their deaths. Self-described "very conservative" respondents and those who attend church once a week or more were the only groups with a majority opposing such legislation, the Associated Press reports. The Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare, which opposes euthanasia, notes that the poll's wording carefully avoids the phrase "physician-assisted suicide." About 3,400 miles from Vermont, physician-assisted suicide is again in the news in the Netherlands, the world's euthanasia trailblazer. Physician-assisted suicide has been legal there since 2001, with thousands of deaths now deliberately caused by doctors. (One report says about half of the procedures go unreported.) In November, a Dutch hospital revealed that it had been euthanasing infants, though Dutch law says patients must repeatedly ask to be killed, and must file a written declaration before a doctor is allowed to kill the patient. Now the Dutch medical community wants more freedom to kill. "Doctors can help patients who ask for help to die even though they may not be ill but 'suffering through living,' concludes a three year inquiry commissioned by the Royal Dutch Medical Association," the British Medical Journal reports today. (The association's report is here, but in Dutch.) The report comes a year after physician Philip Sutorius had his criminal conviction appeal rejected by the Dutch Supreme Court. In 1998 Sutorius performed an "assisted suicide" on politician Edward Brongersma, who had no major disease other than feeling his existence was "pointless and empty." Being "tired of life" is no grounds for death, Dutch courts said, but Sutorius was not punished since he showed "concern for his patient." The current situation, then, is murky. The Dutch Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that patients must have a "classifiable physical or mental condition" to be killed, but the country's euthanasia law only says the person must be "suffering hopelessly and unbearably." Jos Dijkhuis, who led the Royal Dutch Medical Association inquiry, says patients merely "tired of life" shouldn't be granted physician-assisted suicide, but that doctors alone should be allowed to decide whether patients' "suffering through living" is severe enough for death. Slippery-slope arguments are often faulty, but the Royal Dutch Medical Association seems to be going out of its way to demonstrate that such slopes really do exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomProddy Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Darwin was right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamweaver Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Thats just gross. :angry: Is nothing sacred anymore? Are peopel merely dolls that can be cast aside once they grow old and weary? I was disgusted when I heard the Netherlands allows physician assissted suicide for children. I don't know how the legal system works over there, but in the US, a child cannot make legal decisions until they're 18. What if a child were suffering from depression or suicidal thoughts? Very very sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spathariossa Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 I had no idea that was going on. That's umm...wow...that's just low. I can't think of anything more satanic than that except abortion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachael Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 [img]http://phorum.phatmass.com/style_images/1/icon8.gif[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilroy the Ninja Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 makes me want to not be of Dutch descent. But alas, I am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Socrates Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 And they say abortion/euthanasia will not not be a "slippery slope"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachael Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 what sickens me is not the fact that they are not only killing healthy adults, but they aren't even giving infants a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyperdulia again Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 i just...i mean..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtins Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 wow that is so terrible. Im just like dumbstruck how can people do this?!?!?! man we need to pray for these people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InHisHands381 Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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