Doctors in Holland, where euthanasia is permitted, are illegally euthanizing patients since they feel the required reporting procedure is bothersome, according to an investigative television program which aired in Holland last week. The television program Reporter said that thousands of cases of life-shortening acts are not being reported to the regional committees which are to judge whether the euthanasia in the particular case is allowable under Dutch law.
According to official statistics, the number of reported euthanasia cases reduced by 8 percent last year. However, according to doctors, the official figures do not present a reliable picture. An anonymous survey of 355 lung specialists, cited by the program, found that many doctors resent the official euthanasia protocols and duty to report. They find them too time-consuming.
In order to evade the procedure, doctors, under the pretext of pain management, give severely ill persons a lethal dose of morphine. Patients are also rendered unconscious with a sedative and then receive no food or fluids.
(From the Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant of 27.02.03 — translation by Gregor Wolbring — Founder and Executive director of the International Center for Bioethics, Culture and Disability see his website at www.bioethicsanddisability.org.
(This update courtesy of LifeSite News.)
