Euthanasia law triggers an emotive debate

By Batuk Gathani

BRUSSELS, DEC. 3. The Dutch Parliament has approved a Bill legalising euthanasia. The controversial law was passed by 104 votes to 40. It is expected to be approved by the Dutch Parliament's upper House shortly.

Various Christian groups and the Roman Catholic Church have opposed the legislation. But if opinion polls, not only in Holland but major European Union countries are any indication, the legislation has wide public support. Under the new law, people over the age of 16 who suffer from acute and unremitting pain can ask doctors to end their lives under precise medical and legal guidelines. The Parliament was merely legalising a long- standing practice in Holland where doctors have never been prosecuted for performing ``assisted suicides'' for terminally- ill patients.

The new law clearly defines legal parameters and basic guidelines regulating the termination of human life. The Dutch Health Minister, Ms. Els Borst, said; ``Doctors should not be treated like criminals'' and that the new euthanasia law will ``create security for doctors and patients alike.'' Ms. Borst added that the main purpose of the Bill was to bring the practice of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide ``out in the open'' so that it could be more easily regulated and controlled.

The question of legal euthanasia has triggered a major debate in the European media and societies. Conservative and traditional Europeans feel that the new Dutch law is a ``licence to kill'' and Dutch doctors may have ``an awful new power.'' An angry editorial writer wrote: ``This week, the Netherlands came closer to becoming the first nation in modern history to allow a doctor to kill his patient under the cover of law.'' Mercy killing has been tolerated in Holland for two decades. More than 2,200 people were helped to die last year, according to Government records but unrecorded deaths could exceed this number.

The debate is emotive among those who believe in mercy killing and those who believe that humans cannot have any jurisdiction on terminating life. The ``right to die'' is enshrined in Dutch law. It is likely that the Dutch example may be followed elsewhere in the world. Mercy killing is tolerated in Belgium, Switzerland and Columbia. In the U.S., the State of Oregon recently passed a referendum on ``assisted killing'' but that may be nullified by Congress. In some countries doctors apply the ``double effect'' of shortening life by relieving pain with massive dozes of pain killing drugs. In Germany and Spain, authorities turn a blind eye to ``passive euthanasia'' - turning off the life-support system for people in permanent coma. A British opinion poll conducted by the Voluntary Euthanasia Society reveals that four out of five Britons will support a law legalising euthanasia.

The European media interprets the Dutch law as arising from the contest between the compassionate establishment and a tiny minority of religious zealots. Cynics argue that the Dutch Government is trying to contain the challenges posed by huge health and social security costs due to the rise in the population of the aged. The European countries are passing through a demographic revolution with fast declining or zero birth rates and more people reaching the age of 75 and beyond. With rising medical costs, taxpayers wonder if they should bear the financial costs of supporting the old. It is a philosophical debate about human and patients' rights - the doctors are mere intermediaries. The right to die with respect and without pain is as important as the right to live in health and dignity.

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Section  : International
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