Christian M.D. Says Dutch Euthanasia Study Raises Questions, Concerns
by Mary Rettig and Jenni Parker
August 11, 2005
(AgapePress) - The head of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) says a recent study on euthanasia in the Netherlands, conducted by researchers at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, fails to give a full picture of the lethal practice. The study shows that nearly half of physician-assisted death requests were carried out, but it also found that nearly one in eight patients decided not to go through with the suicide. And although the study concluded that Dutch physicians report they are complying with the official requirements for euthanasia in the Netherlands, Dr. David Stevens, M.D., executive director of the CMDA, contends there is currently no real way to monitor the doctors' compliance.
In an effort to gather more insight, the CMDA conducted some research of its own. Stevens notes that the Christian health professionals organization recently sent a representative to the Netherlands to talk with families affected by physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia. The representative reported that many of the families of patients whose lives were ended in this way were not together on the decision.
For instance, CMDA's envoy learned that in one euthanasia case, "The mother wanted it, or the mother was ambivalent. A sister wanted it; the son did not, and it caused enormous family conflict," Stevens says. Meanwhile, he notes, "Another family member talked about how his father was in a nursing home, and [the medical care providers] actually started increasing his doses of morphine till it got to a lethal level, and killed him without his permission. And when confronted with it, they said, 'We needed the bed.'"
A Dutch law that took effect in 2002 restricts doctors from euthanizing patients unless they are terminal, suffering unbearable pain, without hope of improvement, and making a sustained request for death while of sound mind. Each case is reviewed by a panel of medical experts. But Dr. Stevens says euthanasia in the Netherlands has become so commonplace that it is no longer about stopping a patient's suffering. Increasingly, he says, it is about getting people who are no longer considered "useful" out of the way.
In a critical editorial accompanying the euthanasia study, University of Minnesota law professor Susan Wolf raised the question of whether mercy killings may be taking place that do not follow the strict guidelines the Dutch have put in place. Stevens agrees with Wolf that this is an important question, with serious implications as to what will happen if doctors are allowed unmonitored, nearly total discretion over patients' life or death.
"We dare not allow physicians to become not only healers but killers," the Christian doctor says, "because it ultimately puts everyone in danger in the society." While there are "good doctors, and a lot of great doctors, there are some bad doctors," he points out. "And we cannot allow a system where the doctor becomes judge, jury, and assistant executioner -- often with a depressed patient who needs support, not a lethal prescription."
Belgium has enacted a euthanasia law similar to the Netherlands in recent years. Meanwhile, the Netherlands continues to push the guidelines and restrictions of its policy. Last year, Dutch medical officials acknowledged that they have carried out "mercy killings" of terminally ill newborn babies, and a government proposal on guidelines involving the euthanasia of infants is expected to be released this fall.
Stevens feels people in the U.S. need to pay attention to euthanasia policy in other nations and at home, because the Netherlands and other nations may offer indicators of how the ongoing debate over these issues will take shape in America. The CMDA spokesman notes that Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law will be argued before the United States Supreme Court this fall.
