Netherlands hospital carries out euthanasia for terminally ill babies

[Guest guest]

This is scary....

Love, light and peace,

Sue

" It is not unfair to conclude that medicine is the only branch of science

that has based its structure on opinions and suppositions rather than on

laws and principles. " - Vithoulkas, " The Science of Homoeopathy " .

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http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=98776

Netherlands hospital carries out euthanasia for terminally ill babies

12/01/2004

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- A hospital in the Netherlands -- the first

nation to permit euthanasia -- recently proposed guidelines for mercy

killings of terminally ill newborns, and then made a startling revelation:

It has already begun carrying out such procedures, which include

administering a lethal dose of sedatives.

The announcement by the Groningen Academic Hospital came amid a growing

discussion in Holland on whether to legalize euthanasia on people incapable

of deciding for themselves whether they want to end their lives -- a

prospect viewed with horror by euthanasia opponents and as a natural

evolution by advocates.

In August, the main Dutch doctors' association KNMG urged the Health

Ministry to create an independent board to review euthanasia cases for

terminally ill people " with no free will, " including children, the severely

mentally retarded and people left in an irreversible coma after an accident.

The Health Ministry is preparing its response, which could come as soon as

December, a spokesman said.

Three years ago, the Dutch parliament made it legal for doctors to inject a

sedative and a lethal dose of muscle relaxant at the request of adult

patients suffering great pain with no hope of relief.

The Groningen Protocol, as the hospital's guidelines have come to be known,

would create a legal framework for permitting doctors to actively end the

life of newborns deemed to be in similar pain from incurable disease or

extreme deformities.

The guideline says euthanasia is acceptable when the child's medical team

and independent doctors agree the pain cannot be eased and there is no

prospect for improvement, and when parents think it's best.

Examples include extremely premature births, where children suffer brain

damage from bleeding and convulsions; and diseases where a child could only

survive on life support for the rest of its life, such as severe cases of

spina bifida and epidermosis bullosa, a rare blistering illness.

The has hospital revealed it carried out four such mercy killings in 2003,

and reported all cases to government prosecutors. There have been no legal

proceedings against the hospital or the doctors.

Roman Catholic organizations and the Vatican have reacted with outrage to

the announcement, and U.S. euthanasia opponents contend the proposal shows

the Dutch have lost their moral compass.

" The slippery slope in the Netherlands has descended already into a vertical

cliff, " said Wesley J. , a prominent California-based critic, in an

e-mail to The Associated Press.

Child euthanasia remains illegal everywhere. Experts say doctors outside

Holland do not report cases for fear of prosecution.

" As things are, people are doing this secretly and that's wrong, " said

Eduard Verhagen, head of Groningen's children's clinic. " In the Netherlands

we want to expose everything, to let everything be subjected to vetting. "

According to the Justice Ministry, four cases of child euthanasia were

reported to prosecutors in 2003. Two were reported in 2002, seven in 2001

and five in 2000. All the cases in 2003 were reported by Groningen, but some

of the cases in other years were from other hospitals.

Groningen estimated the protocol would be applicable in about 10 cases per

year in the Netherlands, a country of 16 million people.

Since the introduction of the Dutch law, Belgium has also legalized

euthanasia, while in France, legislation to allow doctor-assisted suicide is

currently under debate. In the United States, the state of Oregon is alone

in allowing physician-assisted suicide, but this is under constant legal

challenge.

However, experts acknowledge that doctors euthanize routinely in the United

States and elsewhere, but that the practice is hidden.

" Measures that might marginally extend a child's life by minutes or hours or

days or weeks are stopped. This happens routinely, namely, every day, " said

Lance Stell, professor of medical ethics at son College in son,

N.C., and staff ethicist at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C.

" Everybody knows that it happens, but there's a lot of hypocrisy. Instead,

people talk about things they're not going to do. "

More than half of all deaths occur under medical supervision, so it's really

about management and method of death, Stell said.

[Guest guest]

I don't know how much others know on this subject, but it goes much deeper...

IT'S MORE THEN JUST TERMINALLY ILL BABIES! The Netherlands is OUT OF CONTROL

with this.

Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act -- This Act entered

into force on April 1, 2002 --

what people HAVE TO REALIZE is that the words " suffering was lasting &

unbearable " can include those who are depressed and even at age 12!!! It

doesn't REQUIRE terminal illness! This could mean babies born with birth

defects could qualify. And depressed pre-teens. They are currently trying to

change the law so teens can get assisted suicide without their parent's consent.

READ BELOW:

Chapter II. Requirements of Due Care

http://www.derecho-comparado.com/legislacion/holeutanasia.htm

Article 2

1.. The requirements of due care, referred to in Article 293 second paragraph

Penal Code mean that the physician:

1.. holds the conviction that the request by the patient was voluntary and

well-considered,

2.. holds the conviction that the patient's suffering was lasting and

unbearable,

3.. has informed the patient about the situation he was in and about his

prospects,

4.. and the patient hold the conviction that there was no other reasonable

solution for the situation he was in,

5.. e. has consulted at least one other, independent physician who has seen

the patient and has given his written opinion on the requirements of due care,

referred to in parts a - d, and

6.. has terminated a life or assisted in a suicide with due care.

2.. If the patient aged sixteen years or older is no longer capable of

expressing his will, but prior to reaching this condition was deemed to have a

reasonable understanding of his interests and has made a written statement

containing a request for termination of life, the physician may cant' out this

request. The requirements of due care, referred to in the first paragraph, apply

mutatis mutandis.

3.. If the minor patient has attained an age between sixteen and eighteen

years and may be deemed to have a reasonable understanding of his interests, the

physician may cant' out the patient's request for termination of life or

assisted suicide, after the parent or the parents exercising parental authority

and/or his guardian have been involved in the decision process.

4.. If the minor patient is aged between twelve and sixteen years and may be

deemed to have a reasonable understanding of his interests, the physician may

cant' out the patient's request, provided always that the parent or the parents

exercising parental authority and/or his guardian agree with the termination of

life or the assisted suicide. The second paragraph applies mutatis mutandis.

http://www.pregnantpause.org/euth/nethhist.htm

Before 1973, euthanasia was illegal in the Netherlands.

In that year, a doctor was arrested and put on trial for killing her terminally

ill mother with morphine. The court gave her a suspended sentence of one week in

jail and a year's probation.

This set a precedent, and the courts quickly established a set of guidelines for

when it was permissible for physicians to assist a patient in committing

suicide, such as requiring certain consultations, insisting that the patient

must be suffering from a terminal illness, and that the patient must request it.

In 1984, the Royal Society of Medicine issued " rules of careful conduct " for

euthanasia. These called for the doctor to inform the patient of his condition,

consult his nearest relatives (unless he objects), consult at least one other

physician, keep written records, and, in the case of a child, obtain the consent

of the parents or legal guardians.

In 1985 a court dropped the " terminal illness " requirement in a case involving a

young girl with multiple sclerosis. While her disease was incurable, there was

no reason why she could not have lived indefinately. (In a more recent case a

woman who was perfectly healthy but suffering from severe depression was

euthanized at her request.)

By the late 80's it had become routine to " euthanize " babies born with

handicaps, like Down's syndrome and spina bifida.

Three nurses in Amsterdam killed several comatose patients without any consent.

They were convicted, not of homicide, but of failing to consult a physician.

In 1990, physicians in the Netherlands were involved in 11,800 deaths, or 9% of

all deaths in the country. Of these, half were labeled " active involuntary

euthanasia " , that is, the patient was killed without his consent.1

In 1995, Parliament passed legislation which codified these court decisions into

law.

Dorinda

Mommy to

Seth and Saron

Netherlands hospital carries out euthanasia for

terminally ill babies

This is scary....

Love, light and peace,

Sue

" It is not unfair to conclude that medicine is the only branch of science

that has based its structure on opinions and suppositions rather than on

laws and principles. " - Vithoulkas, " The Science of Homoeopathy " .

[Guest guest]

Hitler and the Nazis started thier " killing " spree with handicapped

children and the mentally ill...This is very scarry.

Donna

> I don't know how much others know on this subject, but it goes

much deeper...

>

> IT'S MORE THEN JUST TERMINALLY ILL BABIES! The Netherlands is OUT

OF CONTROL with this.

>

> Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act -- This

Act entered into force on April 1, 2002 --

> what people HAVE TO REALIZE is that the words " suffering was

lasting & unbearable " can include those who are depressed and even

at age 12!!! It doesn't REQUIRE terminal illness! This could mean

babies born with birth defects could qualify. And depressed pre-

teens. They are currently trying to change the law so teens can get

assisted suicide without their parent's consent. READ BELOW:

>

[Guest guest]

exactly!!! VERY SCARY!!

Dorinda

Mommy to

Seth and Saron

Re: Netherlands hospital carries out euthanasia for

terminally ill babies

Hitler and the Nazis started thier " killing " spree with handicapped

children and the mentally ill...This is very scarry.

Donna