Wednesday, August 10, 2005
More on the Dutch Euthanasia Study
The anti-euthanasia disability rights group Not Dead Yet has done a much better job of finding misinformation and inaccuracies in the report on Dutch euthanasia that was examined in yesterday's post.
AP Correspondent Tara Burghart provided the following as background information to readers:
"A study released Monday sheds new light on euthanasia in the Netherlands, the first country to legalize it for terminally ill people"
And this...
"The study comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of euthanasia -- especially in the Netherlands, where officials acknowledged last year that they had carried out mercy killings of terminally ill newborns."
What's wrong with this picture? Plenty.
For starters, "eligibility" for euthanasia in the Netherlands has never been limited to "terminally ill people." Don't take our word for it. Go check out the website of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs the page devoted to info on their euthanasia policies is available in English at: http://www.minbuza.nl/default.asp?CMS_ITEM=MBZ257609&x=135&y=26
And here was another falsehood that I missed:
Then there's that gross misinformation about the "mercy killings of terminally ill newborns." Here, Burghart no doubt picked up the misinformation published by her AP colleague Linda Johnson (you can still find a copy of Johnson's article at: http://www.ajc.com/health/content/health/0305/10euthanasia.html)
In fact, the report about the euthanizing of newborns, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, emphasized that the 22 infants whose killings were reported all has spina bifida. Spina bifida is NOT a terminal illness, it's a condition associated with several disabilities. You don't even have to take our word about the spina bifida -- that info is buried in the middle of Johnson's article.
I can't seem to point out often enough that euthanasia and physician assisted suicide programs are from their inception cloaked in deception. Or to put it another way, the truth is the first to be euthanized.
I encourage anyone with an interest in these matters to spend more time on Not Dead Yet. Their standard of reporting is excellent, they take no prisoners, and considering the subject matter, they manage to be edgy and even seem to be enjoying themselves. They are an invaluable resource and my admiration grows with every visit.
Crossposted on ProLifeBlogs
AP Correspondent Tara Burghart provided the following as background information to readers:
"A study released Monday sheds new light on euthanasia in the Netherlands, the first country to legalize it for terminally ill people"
And this...
"The study comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of euthanasia -- especially in the Netherlands, where officials acknowledged last year that they had carried out mercy killings of terminally ill newborns."
What's wrong with this picture? Plenty.
For starters, "eligibility" for euthanasia in the Netherlands has never been limited to "terminally ill people." Don't take our word for it. Go check out the website of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs the page devoted to info on their euthanasia policies is available in English at: http://www.minbuza.nl/default.asp?CMS_ITEM=MBZ257609&x=135&y=26
And here was another falsehood that I missed:
Then there's that gross misinformation about the "mercy killings of terminally ill newborns." Here, Burghart no doubt picked up the misinformation published by her AP colleague Linda Johnson (you can still find a copy of Johnson's article at: http://www.ajc.com/health/content/health/0305/10euthanasia.html)
In fact, the report about the euthanizing of newborns, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, emphasized that the 22 infants whose killings were reported all has spina bifida. Spina bifida is NOT a terminal illness, it's a condition associated with several disabilities. You don't even have to take our word about the spina bifida -- that info is buried in the middle of Johnson's article.
I can't seem to point out often enough that euthanasia and physician assisted suicide programs are from their inception cloaked in deception. Or to put it another way, the truth is the first to be euthanized.
I encourage anyone with an interest in these matters to spend more time on Not Dead Yet. Their standard of reporting is excellent, they take no prisoners, and considering the subject matter, they manage to be edgy and even seem to be enjoying themselves. They are an invaluable resource and my admiration grows with every visit.
Crossposted on ProLifeBlogs
papijoe 6:36 AM
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