Dutch voters support assisted suicide for ‘completed lives’

By Michael Cook The results of professional opinion polls on social issues have to be taken with a pinch of salt, unless they indicate huge voter preferences. However, the Netherlands provides an example of huge voter preference. According to NL Times, a Kieskompas poll of nearly 200,000 people found that 80% of people surveyed believe that they …

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Dutch People Support Euthanasia for a ‘Completed Life’

By Wesley J. Smith Once a society embraces killing as an answer to suffering, the “suffering” that qualifies for termination never stops expanding. The Dutch have decades of experience with this. Since lethal-injection euthanasia became decriminalized — and then, formally legalized — the killable caste has expanded from the terminally ill, to the chronically ill, to …

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Dutch court sentences man to 3½ years for assisting suicides

By Michael Cook A Dutch court has sentenced a man to 3½ years in prison for providing contacts with a lethal suicide drug. The man, identified only as Alex S. was convicted of helping at least ten people. All were over the age of 18. However, he sold the drug to 1,600 people. Eighteen months of the sentence …

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Netherlands Psychiatrist reprimanded for not acting with due care in two euthanasia deaths

“The disciplinary committee condemns the behavior of a healthcare provider but that the person can continue to practice their profession.” By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition An unnamed psychiatrist in the Netherlands has been reprimanded in two euthanasia death. Every case of euthanasia results in a dead patient. How many wrongful deaths are …

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Nine Elderly Couples Were Euthanized in the Netherlands

By Wesley J. Smith Joint suicides by elderly couples used to be considered a tragedy. In the Netherlands, doctors killing elderly couples together is a considered medical treatment (Belgium too, and at least once in Canada). Last year there were nine such killings. Details were not available on most, but one involved a husband dying …

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Demand for euthanasia surges in the Netherlands

By Michael Cook Euthanasia is becoming so popular in the Netherlands that the country’s only dedicated death clinic cannot keep up with the demand. Steven Pleiter, director of the Levenseindekliniek in Amsterdam, told the Guardian that he needs to double the number of doctors. He is running a high-profile advertising campaign to recruit staff. “Doctors at …

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After 15 years, will the Dutch finally prosecute a euthanasia doctor?

By Michael Cook For the first time since the legalisation of euthanasia [in the Netherlands] in 2002, a doctor may be prosecuted for not following the letter of the law, according to a report in the British Medical Journal. The case, which was reported by BioEdge in February, concerned a 80-year-old woman with dementia who entered …

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Because There Can Never be Enough Suicide

By Wesley J. Smith In the Netherlands, there can never be enough suicide and euthanasia. Think about it. Terminally ill people can be terminated by doctors. Chronically ill people can be terminated by doctors. Elderly people with normal physical aging, can be terminated by doctors. There have even been joint euthanasia killings of elderly couples …

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Dutch right-to-die group confirms elder abuse risk – but doesn’t seem to care

There have already been some murders By Paul Russell The Netherlands legalised both euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2002. The data shows an overwhelming preference for euthanasia. In 2015, there were 6672 euthanasia deaths and only 150 assisted suicide deaths. The total comprising at least 4.5% of all deaths. In recent years the discussion about …

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Latest end-of-life statistics from the Netherlands

Nearly one death in 20 now due to euthanasia By Michael Cook More statistics about euthanasia from the Netherlands, based on the latest figures from 2015. Nearly one death in 20 (4.5%) is now due to euthanasia. The figures come from a letter in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. “It …

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Netherlands: 431 people euthanised without consent in 2015

People’s lives are “terminated without request” in the Netherlands – known elsewhere as homicide By Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) The data from the study into ending of life decisions in the Netherlands in 2015 is now available – and the conclusions are horrifying. Every five years the Netherlands conducts a study …

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The Dutch Mouse that Roared: a challenge to the pro-euthanasia zeitgeist

By Paul Russell, Director, Hope Australia Public challenges to the zeitgeist on euthanasia are rare in the Netherlands. The practice of deliberately killing patients in Holland has a long history reaching back more than thirty years. The Dutch, like their Belgian neighbours, have grown used to the idea. Promotion of the practice through sympathetic propaganda …

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