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Netherlands Moves Closer To Legalizing Euthanasia
by Josephine Frantzen
THE HAGUE (AFP) - The Netherlands on Tuesday took a big step towards becoming the first country in the world to allow mercy killings after the lower house of parliament passed a bill legalizing euthanasia by a majority of more than two to one.
The vote on the controversial medical practice, which could allow Dutch doctors to resort to medically assisted suicide under certain specific conditions, was 104 to 40.
It still has to be approved by the Senate, but that is considered to be a formality.
The Vatican immediately condemned the bill, saying it "violates the dignity of human beings" and "goes against the natural law of individual conscience."
The vote was also contrary to a document on European principles on medical ethics signed in 1987 by 12 European countries, spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls said, adding that: "The first problem raised by this law is a serious problem of professional ethics for doctors who must apply it."
"Once again, we are faced with a state law that is contrary to the natural law of individual conscience," he said.
The ruling parties in the Netherlands have a comfortable majority in the Senate, so the measure could become law as soon as next year.
Doctors will then legally be able to end the lives of certain terminally-ill patients, but only on three conditions: that the patient's condition is incurable, that the patient is of sound mind and fully agrees to the procedure, and that their suffering is considered unbearable.
There has long been a widespread tolerance of euthanasia in the Netherlands, where 2,565 mercy killings have been officially reported since 1996, some 90% of them carried out on people suffering from terminal cancer.
The real number is, however, believed to be higher, as many doctors carrying out such assisted suicides have failed to declare them for fear of facing a potential 12-year jail sentence under existing legislation.
After the vote, Justice Minister Benk Korthals said: "A law whereby the considered wishes of a dying patient to put an end to his life are permitted definitely has its place in a mature society."
Elsewhere in the world, only the U.S. state of Oregon allows a form of euthanasia for terminally ill patients.
In 1996, Australia's Northern Territory passed a law legalizing euthanasia, but it was repealed a few months later by federal authorities.
The parties of the governing coalition, the social democratic PvdA, the liberal VVD and the left-wing reformist D66, along with the left-wing Green Party, backed the Dutch bill.
But, as expected, the Christian Democrats of the CDA, the main opposition party, voted against, accusing the government of failing in its responsibility to protect human life.
One of the crucial questions in the debate was the definition of "unbearable suffering". In the new law unbearable suffering can be physical or mental and has to be diagnosed by a doctor.
Christian opposition parties worry that the new law will allow people in good health to resort to assisted suicide.
They pointed to a recent case in which a doctor was acquitted for helping former senator Edward Brongersma end his life because he felt he had nothing left to live for.
The case, under appeal, will determine whether the new euthanasia law would extend to cases of people who are depressed and see death as the only way out.
Under the bill, the final decision to approve an act of mercy killing would be taken by existing regional health committees, which have been in effect vetting such acts since they became tolerated in 1996.
In that period, the committees have ruled against only three doctors.
An initial version of the new law would have allowed young people aged over 12 and less than 16 to ask for their lives to be ended without agreement from their parents, but that controversial clause was changed to include parental approval.
The bill sets 16 as the minimum age for euthanasia without parental agreement, and according to a statement from the justice ministry, it will also provide for a parental refusal to be overridden in certain extreme cases.
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