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Subscribe to RSSThe mobile euthanasia units launched in the Netherlands Thursday may not much resemble Dr. Kevorkian's death van, but they stirred up nearly as much controversy.
The program allows teams of doctors and nurses to visit very sick patients whose primary care physicians have refused end their lives, the Guardian reported. The Netherlands was the first country to legalize euthanasia in 2002.
The program, called Levenseinde, meaning “Life End,” was initiated by the world's largest euthanasia organization, with 130,000 members, based in the Netherlands. The mobile program is free to Dutch citizens.
Program rules say that sick people or their relatives may apply for a mobile unit visit, by phone or email. Patients must be suffering tremendous pain and be able to articulate several times that they want to die.
The team would also interview the primary care physician who would not end their patient’s life.
"They will first give the patient an injection, which will put them into a deep sleep, then a second injection follows, which will stop their breathing and heart beat," said Walburg De Jong, an advocate of assisted suicide, according to the Guardian.
The teams would be allowed one procedure a week because of the emotional toll that each visit takes.
In the Netherlands, each euthanasia case is reported to a commission, made up of a doctor, legal and ethics specialists to make sure the criteria have been followed.
Controversy arose when the members of the Royal Dutch Society of Doctors said they doubt the doctors would be able to form a strong enough bond with patients to properly assess a case, the Agence France-Presse reported.
Currently, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Oregon, Washington and Montana are the only jurisdictions where laws allow assisted suicide, according to the Patients Rights Council.
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They should invent euthanasia drive-throughs!
Except the first customer would block the lane... maybe not a good idea.
They already have....it's called McDonalds.
They should invent euthanasia drive-throughs!
You would have to run it in conjunction with a used car lot!
The "suicide booth" from Futurama is much more efficient.
LOL. McEuthanasia?
Those of you against euthanasia should take a visit to a terminal cancer ward and I think you would change your mind. I know I did.
I liked the suicide booth idea on Futurama. Go Bender, go Bender!
I think that the people who perform euthanasia must get some thrill from it... or some feeling of subdued euphoria about getting to play G*d. I wonder if they do it because they want to help... or because of the reasons I just mentioned.
Maybe they do it out of compassion and respect for human dignity.
Seriously. Can you imagine being in constant pain, with no hope of recovery, dying slowly, without even the physical capacity to end it yourself? Just endless, endless torment for years, your family suffering to see you, and no way to escape.
Euthanasia is a mercy and a blessing to those who need it. The people who do it, I expect, feel like they're helping ease pain and suffering -- not like they're wielding godlike power over life and death.
MSpielman, you are spot-on. People who think that euthanasia is about some sort of "sick thrill" for the people involved do so usually because their squeamishness outweighs their compassion (and no, I'm not meaning that as an insult - death is a thing we biologically try to avoid, so that's pretty normal).
I think it takes a huge amount of respect, compassion and empathy to help someone who has made that impossibly difficult decision to end a painful life that isn't going to get better.
I hope it doesn't come across as disrespectful to make the comparison, but the only experience I personally have had with euthanasia has been with dogs, not people. I can honestly say that for everyone I've known who has had to do it, it has been an excruciatingly heartbreaking thing - every single time. I can't see that being any different for humans, and given that each team is required to take a week after each euthanasia, I would think the added empathy would make it even worse. That's not the kind of thing you do for "a thrill" - it's the kind of thing that a sense of kindness and ethics compels you to.
Death is the one inevitability. After the experience of being born, death is the most meaningful event in our lives. The rational approach to this is to allow the individual the power to choose how and when to die. This happens every day in America now, but is done secretly by family members and doctors who want to give the individual the chance to have control over the most meaningful event second to birth. This is different from the suicidal person who is depressed but otherwise healthy. If done responsibly, I believe this is about dignity and compassion.
And don't forget that legalized euthanasia will result in tremendous health care savings costs. Why bother spending hundreds-of-billions of dollars finding cures for diseases when the problem is solved by a needle in the arm? And why spend hundreds-of-billions of dollars for treatment for an already existing medical condition, enriching the already mega-rich medical, pharmaceutical, research and insurance industries, bankrupting families? Instead of trying to treat and care for the seriously ill, people will suddenly find lots more money in their pockets to buy bigger and better high-def, flat-screen, wall-mount TV sets (made in China, of course). I'm so glad we're getting our priorities straight.
Maybe they just understand that death is natural and that no living creature--man or beast--should be made to suffer in hell simply because we are technologically capable of forcing them to do so.
Who plays God--the ones who brings relief to a person who would, if left in nature, be dead within hours, or the ones who use medicines, technology, and surgery to prolong the horrible suffering of a person who can never recover?
But aside from all of that, it seems particularly strange to me that a society that insists a woman owns her body and therefore has the right to kill a healthy growing baby, does an about-face when a sick adult who is damaged beyond repair chooses to end their own life. Does this mean we own someone else's life, but not our own?
This society is a mess at a very deep level. People here seem incapable of any kind of consistency--they just have an emotional response and then decide it should be law.
I guess you didn't read the story, the people who do this have a week to recuperate because of the emotional toll that each visit takes.
The GOP will go berserk over this! My question is, have any of those objecting to this ever sat through the American version of euthanasia when a competent adult elects to end their life because of suffering?
Unlike the Netherlands, in which the individual electing this choice, can pass with dignity, loved ones with them, the US version relies upon starvation and dehydration, combined with pain killers over a week or so for the individual to pass as their body shuts down,, as you sit there and watch the stages of death slowly pass before your eyes.
It is not pretty, and does not allow an individual to die with dignity, in peace with those they love.
This is an area of the law that desperatly needs to be changed.
I would like to think this information is false:
UTRECHT, Netherlands, October 24, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) has released new guidelines for interpreting the 2002 Euthanasia Act that now includes “mental and psychosocial ailments” such as “loss of function, loneliness and loss of autonomy”
From the perspective mentioned above sounds like being in the middle of a war theater doesn't it. Except in one of these scenarios dignified death appears as a choice.
They seem to have put a lot of thought in it. Lotsa of reviews and oversight involved. Plus they are looking at what they are doing with a critical eye toward the basic question: "should we ?". I applaud their attempts and what they've set up so far. Seems Doctors and responsible Regulators are in charge, their work is in the open. But I do not believe the US is ready for that yet. Our gubmint employees are way to vulnerable to lobbying, and patronage influences. Our Doctors are too addicted to big paychecks and high living. I feel there would not be thoughtful, fair systems set up here.
ATC333 - Not the GOP. The religious fanatics. I happen to be Republican and think the program is a wonderful idea.
@Skup:
Unfortunately, the Schiavo theater showed that you may not be a typical Republican.
So you're saying that your 'god' wants us to spend the last year or so of our life horribly sick, in pain, in a hospital, with tubes and medications and misery?
Wow, that's some god you got there, pal!
The Flying Spaghetti Monster would accept those that wish to die with peace and dignity with open, noodly appendages.
Good for the Dutch. Good to finally read about a government that actually cares about the people it governs. Medical Science helps us into life. Logical for It to help us out of life as well.
I picture myself lying in a bed, terminally ill, probably in a diaper (more than likely soiled), in tremendous physical pain, with IVs pumping useless fluids into my ever-collapsing veins. My mind is mostly gone from all the previous medications, the rampant bedsores have eaten into my flesh, my mouth hangs open and drool spills over my cracked lips. And someone wants me to continue in this condition for as long as possible, spending thousands of dollars on doctors and medicines. Think about it. Why?
I am only 35 and I have already created a living will.
LOL Just look at the source and you'll know it's false. The site is for fundamentalist Christians--people who never hesitate to bear false witness for God.
I think we do have to be careful of the slippery slope here. Just because a religious order raises questions about something is not a good reason to dismiss their concerns out of hand.
While I don't trust religion as a whole, I do think we have to consider the abuse that could happen with this. Evil has a way of perverting even the most noble intentions into something horrifying.
Let's face it, there are stages to the dying process and it becomes pretty obvious when someone is in their final few days of life. I watched two loved ones die within 6 months of each other (one cancer/ one dementia), and I NEVER want to spend my final days like that. Yes, they were kept comfortable with morphine, but I will never forget what I witnessed in those final days. I feel that if most people could actually witness a body "shutting down" in the natural process, they would think twice about questioning this practice. I will keep the Netherlands in mind if I am ever terminally ill.
I’ve always found it strange that it’s the religious fanatics who are the most against this sort of thing. You would think that they, more than anyone, would understand that that the body is just a mechanism through which we experience the physical universe. Its kind of like our car – something that gets us from point A to point B. Would it make sense to force someone to stay locked in an old broken down car that could no longer even get out of the driveway rather than to just let the guy get a new car? Of course it wouldn’t. Furthermore, forcing someone to stay trapped in a body that is in a vegetative state or which is causing the person to live with excruciating pain is the most heartless, cruel, and inhumane act one human being can perpetrate upon another. I guess their reasoning is that if "God" wants these people to suffer we should not interfere (Yeah, that’s not irrational at all). I also cant help but wonder why it is that religious types seem more afraid to die then the rest of us despite their protestations to the contrary? And why is it that they place so much importance on the body and on this one lifetime when it’s so short in relation to eternity that its like a single grain of sand in all the sands of the earth. Its like a nanosecond compared to billions of years and yet they think all the marbles are riding on this one nanosecond. And how is it that they don’t seem to realize that if we indeed live forever it necessarily means that we have always existed. Anything with a beginning has an ending and anything with no ending (something infinite) also has no beginning. This means if we have eternal life we have always existed, long before this life. Something finite cannot later become infinite or visa versa. It’s mathematically impossible. And I’m afraid even God can’t change that fact. Isn’t science fun?
A Doctor is supposed to DO NO HARM
KEN.. I bet you would love to be one of those doctors... you sick bastard
Nance – If you mean; would I love to be one of those people who hates to see other human beings suffer, and who is capable of intelligent rational thought then yes, I would love to be one of them, and in fact I am. Anyway thanks for your comments. I really needed a good laugh today.
Ken - your infinity comments are flawed. Infinity can occur in one direction and not the other. The counting number sequence is one dimensional as well as non-negative numbers for two example. Both are one-dimensionally infinite in the positive direction. Otherwise very interesting comments. Can't say I wholly agree with you but it's nice to see something thought out rather than the usual knee jerk from both sides. As a math/stat minded person though, I couldn't let the infinity comment go.
Chris Wanker-
I applaud your foresight.
I hope you have a Health Care Power of Attorney also.
Anyone who opposes euthanasia obviously has not helplessly watched a loved-one with a terminal disease linger on suffering and begging to be put out of their misery. As a nurse of 35 years, I have.
I'm not saying there don't need to be safeguards put in place, but I believe it can work.
Besides, doctors have been practicing passive euthanasia forever, and I'm sure some active euthanasia too at times.
Euthanasia isn't for the benefit of the sick, infirm or dying - it's for the benefit of the living. They don't want to be bothered with the sick, infirm or dying.
When conservatives advocate the killing of the vulnerable, defenseless and unwanted, it's called murder. When liberals advocate the killing of the vulnerable, defenseless and unwanted, it's called choice. By the way, I'm liberal. I don't like the inconsistency of so many liberals who go with the flow of the "elite." The elite-following liberals should be the first to love insurance companies because they decide everyday to get rid of the "incurable" by ending their coverage. We already have euthanasia in our country decided by wealthy corporations. And yet the elite "liberals" rag on corporatist insurers for offing people and "ending their suffering." I just don't get it.
Of course, all you pro-euthanasians make sure to get this collapsed. Since you can't answer it and it decimates your pro-killing stance, you need to get rid of it, just like you do everything else you don't want.
You may change your mind someday if you are in enough pain.
Oh, that vehicle following the euthanasia van is not a garbage truck.
It's called the "Chill Mobile". They stop by your house to make sure you're chillin'! They put a sticker on your forehead. When it turns blue, you are frosty cold!
No it isn't, with recycling at its peak it is a Soylent Green truck.
No, it's a mobile crematorium!
Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!
Coming soon to a neighborhood near you courtesy of obamacare death panels.
As opposed to the Jan Brewer ACTUAL death panels where they decide whether to approve life-saving transplants? Love how you R-tard reteabaggercans can imagine other people's shortcomings, yet ignore the reality of your own kind.
Death panels were Politifact's 2009 Lie of the Year.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/dec/18/politifact-lie-year-death-panels/
They do not exist. I have included the link on the slim chance that you or others choose to educate themselves.
I do not support Obama or Obamacare, but I certanly don't support the government forbidding a terminally ill patient from deciding how to deal with their unimaginable pain. I say give them whatever drugs they want. And if they choose a lethal cocktail, so be it.
Anyone who feels differently is an uncompassionate scumbag.
Yes, well how many times on the internet have you read the 'gut wrenching' tale of the elderly spouse or middle-aged family who have completely exhausted all financial reserves to keep a famly member alive?
If you follow the money, obviously the individual/family is now broke and the 'system' has increased it's revenue. I've asked myself 'why invest in an asset that's beyond repair and will never be productive again'? As cold as this may sound, TRY to think about it omitting all the guilt and emotion surrounding the situation.
This ties into at least one 'American Myth'; retirement. The second myth being 'Death and Dignity', in the USA are we truly allowed 'D&D'?
I'm fortunate to have knowledge of herbs and their properties.
Not a sermon, merely a few thoughts on the issue.
Glendbo,
Way to take a serious compassionate subject and turn it into politcal bu115h1t. If there are death panels they are insurance companies that deny you coverage, so how about you STFU and GBTW?
The real death panels are the insurance companies. Just ask the people who can't get approval to get the tests done to determine if they have a life threatening problem. It's not an "Obama Care" problem it is the mind set of the health insurance industry.
Easy for everyone to say how barbaric it is until it's you who are laying bedridden in agonizing pain.
Then we'll see how critical of euthanasia you are.
apparently it applies to mental illness as well
UTRECHT, Netherlands, October 24, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) has released new guidelines for interpreting the 2002 Euthanasia Act that now includes “mental and psychosocial ailments” such as “loss of function, loneliness and loss of autonomy”
Loneliness? They just straped that in between "loss of Function" and "loss of autonomy"? Oh wow... scenes from that movie Hostel just played through my head in full hi def. So if I had a particularly hard break-up and my dog died I could off myself? By email? Sure glad theres all that human compassion for such a horribly irreversible ailment. And how is "loss of function" defined? If I couldn't "stand at attention" that is a "loss of function"... and it would make me lonely... AND MY CAR WON'T START!!! "Loss of autonomy"... someone dial www * killmekillmekillme * gov...
Loneliness?
I witnessed my father die a slow, agonizing death from cancer.
THAT'S TOTALLY THE SAME AS LONELINESS.
/rolls eyes
Lifesitenews.com isn't known for their factual reports. Take that report with a dump truck load of salt.
Very few news outlets today are known for their factual reports.
Only one a week didn't they learn anything from the Germans......
It's Free! Obama's mandatory Doctor assisted suicide will cost the taxpayers trillions.
Barbaric? What could be more humane than a great big painless shot of anesthesia? You can push the plunger yourself, but first, sign the papers that transfer your wealth to the cult of the greedy.
Because of making euthanasia and abortion laws, the numbers of actual abortions and euthanasia (assisted suicides in this case) is relatively lower than in the countries that prevent or forbid such laws and or practises. Its about getting the government out of the way and making your own choices. Something that should appeal to Americans across the aisle. Who is the government or religion to say you cannot do something. You should be able to chose to die or not in a way you want.
The deathpanels are those that deny you that deep personal choice of continue to die without dignity or carry the burden of many pains that you might endure. It almost looks like Americans like to see people suffer from pain and keeping them from dying in a dignified personally chosen way. Euthanasia is not mandatory, its a PERSONAL CHOICE. No doctor will ever enforce death upon you unless you specifically request it yourself on more than 1 occasion. It is really thought out well. It isnt an easy decision and it shouldnt be. It is an addition to the choices people have next to just the sedatives.
When are people getting organs in the USA? Only if you are rich enough? Like Steve Jobs? When is your insurancecompany denying you the best treatment because of your low income? That, my Americans, are your real deathpanels...
We need to rethink having so many church-related mores inserted into our healthcare. We are all going to die. Why should we die only after the medical field/insurance companies have sucked as much out of us as they can? We are just not civilized enough here in the USA. Well, we are, when it comes to our beloved animals who share our lives, because the two-step shot process is exactly what we do to euthanize our little dears when it is their time to pass. Why can we not have the same dignity?
The world hasn't come to an end in any of these locations where death with dignity is legal. It should be a personal, family decision. If you don't believe in it, don;t get euthanized. Pretty simple.
There isn't anyone who would allow an animal suffering great pain or injury having no hope for recovery. It can be a hard choice for many to make, but they do because it is the most humane thing to do. Many people love animals in general and specifically when a dearly loved pet. Yet, they will make the decision because it is the most humane action. How can it be any different when the animal is human?
You are right about that. The two hardest things I have ever had to do in my life...put terminally ill pets to sleep...and watch my parents (both hospitalized) choose to end their lives by refusing nutrition. It still disturbs me that I could be merciful for my pets, but not my parents.
My father belonged to a group in the 60's called the Hemlock Society, which basically was a group supporting assisted suicide. He died in 1989 unable to avail himself of the ideal in which he believed. So sad.
My father belonged to the Hemlock Society, too. When he got cancer, he made sure that he put a hose in the car so that, if he decided to, he could rig it up to the tailpipe and have a way out of suffering. He never got to the point where he wanted to use it, but just having that option gave him a sense of control.
If he had gotten to that point, and couldn't do it himself - yes, I'd have helped him.
less then six years ago there was scandal in netherlands when it came out that doctors were killing patients who did not ask for this, now they have "kill and run"
If true, those doctors should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But it shouldn't be used as a reason to deny terminally ill patients the option of chosing this method to end their suffering.
msnbc.msn. com/id/6621588/ns/health-childrens_health/t/netherlands-grapples-euthanasia-babies/
forbes. com/sites/timworstall/2012/02/26/but-rick-santorums-sorta-right-about-dutch-euthanasia/
The so called death panels, were actually supports for living wills to prevent another Terri Schiavo case from happening again where conservatives were constantly running to court to keep a dead woman's body alive. Conservatives generally decry this behavior as legislating from the bench.
It is amazing how many conservatives demand health care for the dead, but oppose it for the living.
"The teams would be allowed one procedure a week"
Like prices, taxes, and service charges, the number will surely go up.
Bravo. As long as this procedure is performed responsibly and under thorough oversight, then I am all in favor. No-one should be forced to live against their will, any more than they should be killed when they're not done living.
Interesting comments from individuals that don't actually live here and understand how the program works. Europeans, especially the Dutch, are not ones to act in any rash manner as nothing much gets done around these parts in anything Americans would consider to be a hurry. I know that the Dutch that I live and work with are people full of compassion and that is the only driving force behind these programs. This program is not some sort of scheme to save health care dollars or anything like that as the Dutch healthcare system is well funded by the extensive taxes levied on the whole nation. This isn't some big brother deathpanel that decides whether you live or die. Only you get to make that choice and with socialized health care, they are at least enabled to make that choice. In the American "pay for what you get" system, you don't even get the chance to get better unless you can afford it. Nuts to those who aren't well off. Rationed care via means to pay.
Is this not the same country that ereceted euthanasia booths on the downtown streets of every major city in The Netherlands? Why stop there? Why not just round up everyone over 60 and line them up against a wall, behind an already prepared mass grave and mow them down with machine guns? AK-47s? M16s? SKS? Surely they can find a cheaper way to kill these unwanted, uncontributing, old people who have become a huge drain on their socialized medicine program? Just kill them all. What is this world coming to? Hitler was just a girl scout compared to this. One 7.62 X 39 bullet is a lot cheaper than all of those drugs.
I'm afraid you watched Futurama too much
As an RN I have taken care of many Hospice patients. It is not a "thrill" that we seek as we take care of people's loved ones as they are dying. The purpose is to keep them comfortable and treat them with respect as they are dying. I have seen people go as long as 8 days with no food or water, their bodies waste away. I have had people beg me to help them pass with no pain. It is not for "fun" that I do this Gary2117326. I would lovingly and respectfully care for your family in the same way. By the way to you want to suffer in pain as you are dying?
They catch the ones who think they have "outfoxed" the abortionists.....all being considered by the PC authorities as "useless"....
Is it really true that Dr. Mengele was not part Jewish, but actually had a Dutch mother?
Now I remember why that old scouring powder we had around the house was called..."Dutch Cleanser".
I guess its time to tidy up the "human clutter"....in Holland...
I wanna be Dutch.
My wife is part Dutch. Dutch Oven that is.
Shel, they only assist the ones who want to helped in this way. I have had people think Hospice does the same thing here in the USA. It is death with diginity.
John
YEA! This makes so much sense. But no...we should keep a pulse with machines so we must keep non-people alive???
Wish they would do this everywhere. We do it for our animals we love so much and are in pain. We don't want them to suffer do we? So what's the difference between that and having compassion for a human being who is suffering constantly? I would say this IS compassion at it's highest form.
On one side there is the indignation journey of laying in ones own fecal matter and urine. Add the morphine and pain the morphine can't even touch. It should be a medical decision with compassion to end it. My problem is where does the potential abuse come in. If our Government can sell whatever it wants, influence, power, financial gain, etc., what is to stop a greedy benefactor from having it ended even without a living will? Does the end justify the means? We have lost all faith in human kind. That is the kindness of a fellow human. We have receded back to cave man days whereby take all of your brothers belongings, including his mate and children, after you murdered him. This is my opinion.
I watched two of my neighbors pass on. The hospice people were there constantly and gave comfort to not only the dying, but to the family and friends as well. they were the kindest of people. I could only hope that when it's my turn, someone like that will be there for me.
Gina - we lost my mother in law to cancer several years back - she was only 52. The hospice peopel were absolute angels. Her chemo stopped working and death was inevitable. To keep "experimenting" on her WOULD have been playing God. It takes a special person to work with people at the end of their lives.
Hospice Care and euthanasia are two opposite approaches. HC takes action to help someone to die comfortably as possible; it is an action of great respect and care. Euthanasia is murder; it initiates death for someone who is not naturally at death. HC is dying with God's care. Euthanasia is murder. Pretty soon the Culture of Death people won't have as many people supporting their causes, considering all the murders they commit at both ends of the spectrum. We are hastening the collapse of Western Civilization, and we are happy and proud to do it. ... What civilizaiton will take the place of Western Civ.? Who will inherit what we have started and ended? ... It's an open question.
There's a fine line in hospice between morphine for pain control and just a little extra that will end a life.
What civilization will take the place of Western Civ??? Seriously??? You don't know??? It's the Eastern Civilization! The Chinese, of course! It's already begun! Did you not notice?
Brian-
I have seen doctors give that "just a little"extra dose of morphine and I believe they were right to do so.
And the family consented.