By Dr. Sc. Tom Mortier,
The Department of Health and Technology, Leuven University College
 |
| Tom Mortier |
It is well known that euthanasia
is out of control in the Netherlands. In 2012, 4188 people were reported to have died by euthanasia in the Netherlands. (Link). These deaths do not include the (estimated 20 - 23%) unreported euthanasia deaths.
In January 2014 the euthanasia debate in the Netherlands re-started intensively after the Dutch newspaper Trouw reported a big quarrel between
doctors about the euthanasia death of a 35-year-old psychiatric patient in
2012. (Link).
A young woman with psychiatric
problems asked her general practitioner for euthanasia. For this purpose,
her general practitioner consulted the first independent doctor, but this doctor
gave a negative recommendation. A second independent doctor ruled that the
euthanasia request could not be granted because, according to him, there were
still treatment options. The general practitioner then asked a
third doctor, a psychiatrist, who only needed two weeks to conclude that the problems
of the 35-year old woman were untreatable and thus a lethal injection was legitimized.
Two days later, on December 19 2012 , the patient was killed.
In April 2013 the regional Review Commission on Euthanasia stated that the
euthanasia was performed ‘carefully’. Nonetheless, there is now a big
discussion between the doctors and one doctor, George Wolfs, submitted a
complaint after receiving a negative 'treatment' during the hearings in
front of the Review Commission on Euthanasia. Under the twelve year old Dutch
Euthanasia Act there has never been such a complaint. (Link)
Now, Boudewijn Chabot, a psychiatrist and one of the most famous euthanasia
advocates, and a former leader of the NVVE, has written an opinion in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad that the euthanasia law in The Netherlands has derailed. (Link) He came to this conclusion after some remarkable Dutch euthanasia cases.
Fourteen euthanasia or
assisted suicide deaths of psychiatric patients were reported at the Dutch regional
euthanasia review committees in 2012. There were 13 similar deaths in 2011. The
euthanasia review committees judged that all of the cases in 2012 were performed carefully. In 2013, the euthanasia review committees came to the
conclusion that only seven of the nine euthanasia deaths of psychiatric patients done by the Levenseindekliniek (Life end clinic) were done carefully. (Link)
The Life End Clinic consists of thirty travelling teams that have a doctor and a nurse who will do euthanasia
anywhere in the Netherlands. Most of the
doctors working for the clinic are general practitioners and
internists, but there are also two psychiatrists. One of the
psychiatrists is Gerty Casteelen (Link).
Casteelen lethally injected a 54 year-old woman with a personality disorder, eating disorder and a chronic obsessive-compulsive neurosis. Casteelen doesn’t find it hard to kill her patients because she believes that she is making people happy. Not only the patient, but also the family.
Casteelen lethally injected a 54 year-old woman with a personality disorder, eating disorder and a chronic obsessive-compulsive neurosis. Casteelen doesn’t find it hard to kill her patients because she believes that she is making people happy. Not only the patient, but also the family.
Another patient of Casteelen who died by euthanasia in
2013, was a physically healthy autistic man of 63 who was working for a government
institution. He never had a relationship and the only thing he did his whole
life was work. This man had been treated for a long time for depression. He also tried to commit suicide, but he failed.
According to Casteelen this man decided that he wanted to die. The night before his death, he gave a farewell
reception for his colleagues. The day after, Casteelen went to his house and gave him a lethal injection. (Link)
It is remarkable that Boudewijn Chabot has stated that the Dutch Euthanasia
law has derailed. In
1994 he was found guilty and sentenced for prescribing a lethal dose in the assisted suicide death of a woman with mental problems. The judge didn’t impose a sentence on him because
of the exceptional circumstances of the case and that he was acting carefully. This judicial statement became the basis for the Dutch euthanasia
law (Link).
More than 4000 people die by euthanasia in the Netherlands each year. People who are not euthanized by their general practitioner or psychiatrist will go
to the Life End Clinic.
Chabot argues that psychiatric patients should only be lethally injected by their own treating practitioners. Furthermore, Chabot stated that ‘he
does not feel comfortable’ with the Dutch euthanasia law because it has flaws and he is
startled by the recent developments in the country.
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