Expatica.com reported from the Netherlands:-
AMSTERDAM - Labour party PvdA State secretary for public health
Jet Bussemaker took the occasion of a guest lecture at the Erasmus
University on Tuesday to make it clear that there is no reason
to fear that the ChristenUnie's agenda will hijack government
policy on medical-ethical matters. Bussemaker said that the
government will not tamper with a woman's right to choose if
she opts for an abortion. "The woman makes her decision
in consultation with the doctor, and that is how it will stay.
Neither the ChristenUnie, nor the prime minister, nor I nor
any other politician will be meddling in that."
The state secretary hopes her statements will allay concerns
among critics like her fellow PvdA colleague MP Paul Kalma.
He warned this weekend that the ChristenUnie's principles would
be soon playing a major role in policy. Bussemaker: "Anyone
who reads the coalition agreement well sees that the clock is
not being turned back in any sense."
Doctors will not be required to suggest to women that they
consider adoption if they have decided on an abortion. Bussemaker
said that 85 percent of women who visit the doctor in this situation
have already made their mind up whether they want an abortion.
The state secretary said it was "not terribly useful"
for the doctor to bring up alternatives with this group. It
can even have a negative effect on the situation, she said.
Nor will the government tamper with existing euthanasia provisions
and patients will not be put under any pressure in making decisions.
Bussemaker: "In contrast to what the opposition sometimes
suggests, palliative care is not an alternative to euthanasia."
19 April 2007
Debate on Why
Dutch Example on Euthanasia Stands Alone
Radio Netherlands Worldwide broadcast the following debate:-
Why is no one following the Dutch example on euthanasia?
Euthanasia became legal in the Netherlands five years ago
- but why is the rest of the world unwilling to follow the
Dutch example? Besides the Netherlands, the only country where
a doctor is allowed to take the life of a patient - and only
ever at the patient's request - is Belgium.
Physician-assisted suicide is allowed in Switzerland and
in the state of Oregon in the US. There doctors do not perform
euthanasia, but they can provide patients with the means to
take their own life. In all other parts of the globe, euthanasia
remains illegal. By comparison, laws legalising abortion -
a practice which raises similar concerns - have now been passed
in a wide variety of countries around the world.
So why has the Dutch example not been taken up in the rest
of the world? Has the experience of the Netherlands since
2002 encouraged those who support the law - or has it confirmed
the fears of those who oppose it? These questions and more
were scrutinised in this week's edition of Radio Netherlands'
topical discussion programme, Amsterdam Forum.
Participants were:-
Dr John Bos - a retired oncologist from the Netherlands who
has experience of carrying out euthanasia under the law.
Professor Ian Dowbiggin - an historian from the University
of Prince Edward Island in Canada, author of A Concise History
of Euthanasia.
Professor James Kennedy - a specialist in contemporary Dutch
history, based in Amsterdam, author of A Well-Considered Death,
a study of euthanasia in the Netherlands.
Read extracts from the debate.
