Monday, February 26, 2007
No Palliative Care or Adoption on His Watch!
This article posted on Expatica gives a good sense of what a moral "bizarro world" the Netherlands has become:
AMSTERDAM - Liberal VVD faction leader Mark Rutte thinks that the Christian democrat CDA and Labour PvdA have conceded too much to the ChristenUnie on so-called medical ethical issues in the coalition accord.
The leader of the Liberal party will level this criticism on Thursday during the parliamentary debate on the government statement by submitting a motion on abortion and a second motion on euthanasia.
Rutte says the new government puts too much emphasis on palliative care in the stance it has now taken on euthanasia. He fears that the government will try to somehow make palliative care into an full-fledged alternative that will make euthanasia superfluous. Rutte thinks euthanasia should remain an "independent alternative" in situations of unbearable and untreatable suffering.
The looming threat of the sick, depressed, elderly and terminally ill getting appropriate couselling and adequate pain medication in Holland isn't the only thing keeping Minheer Rutte up at night:
Rutte also pointed out that the coalition wants to urge pregnant women to consider adoption as an alternative for abortion.
The crusading champion of the Liberal Party won't take this assault on revered Dutch values lying down:
The government plans to conduct a study into the psycho-social effects of abortion, but adoption can also have negative effects on both mother and child, Rutte says. He wants to get a motion passed asking the government to first conduct an investigation into the effects of adoption on children and parents.
AMSTERDAM - Liberal VVD faction leader Mark Rutte thinks that the Christian democrat CDA and Labour PvdA have conceded too much to the ChristenUnie on so-called medical ethical issues in the coalition accord.
The leader of the Liberal party will level this criticism on Thursday during the parliamentary debate on the government statement by submitting a motion on abortion and a second motion on euthanasia.
Rutte says the new government puts too much emphasis on palliative care in the stance it has now taken on euthanasia. He fears that the government will try to somehow make palliative care into an full-fledged alternative that will make euthanasia superfluous. Rutte thinks euthanasia should remain an "independent alternative" in situations of unbearable and untreatable suffering.
The looming threat of the sick, depressed, elderly and terminally ill getting appropriate couselling and adequate pain medication in Holland isn't the only thing keeping Minheer Rutte up at night:
Rutte also pointed out that the coalition wants to urge pregnant women to consider adoption as an alternative for abortion.
The crusading champion of the Liberal Party won't take this assault on revered Dutch values lying down:
The government plans to conduct a study into the psycho-social effects of abortion, but adoption can also have negative effects on both mother and child, Rutte says. He wants to get a motion passed asking the government to first conduct an investigation into the effects of adoption on children and parents.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Moral Muddle on Medical Murder
Hemlock Society founder Derek Humphrey had an article on his blog about one of his acolytes who complained to some members of an local euthanasia group that medical serial killer Harold Shipman ruined everything for doctors who used help patients commit suicide.
Doctors no longer help terminally ill patients to enjoy a peaceful death because of the Harold Shipman case, according to a leading consultant.
Speaking in Glasgow, Simon Kenwright, a semi-retired consultant gastroenteologist from East Kent hospital, said fears of prosecution are affecting patient treatment.
In a lecture to 100 members of Friends at the end (Fate), the euthanasia organisation, he said such changes makes the need for legislation to allow assisted dying for the terminally ill more urgent.
Dr Kenwright said that in decades past, doctors would help critically ill patients to shorten their lives peacefully but that the fear of prosecution following the case of Harold Shipman, the serial killer, means such treatment is no longer available.
His call for a change in the law comes less than two weeks after The Herald revealed that a prominent Scottish businesswoman chose to end her life at the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland.
If the claim that illegal assisted suicide was rampant is true, that helps explain why Shipman's body count was so high. How many of his colleagues looked the other way? Were coroners that accustomed to not questioning the cause of death? So how much less safe will the elderly and disabled be if euthanasia is legalized?
Doctors no longer help terminally ill patients to enjoy a peaceful death because of the Harold Shipman case, according to a leading consultant.
Speaking in Glasgow, Simon Kenwright, a semi-retired consultant gastroenteologist from East Kent hospital, said fears of prosecution are affecting patient treatment.
In a lecture to 100 members of Friends at the end (Fate), the euthanasia organisation, he said such changes makes the need for legislation to allow assisted dying for the terminally ill more urgent.
Dr Kenwright said that in decades past, doctors would help critically ill patients to shorten their lives peacefully but that the fear of prosecution following the case of Harold Shipman, the serial killer, means such treatment is no longer available.
His call for a change in the law comes less than two weeks after The Herald revealed that a prominent Scottish businesswoman chose to end her life at the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland.
If the claim that illegal assisted suicide was rampant is true, that helps explain why Shipman's body count was so high. How many of his colleagues looked the other way? Were coroners that accustomed to not questioning the cause of death? So how much less safe will the elderly and disabled be if euthanasia is legalized?