Elderly Dutch couple: Euthanasia is not the answer.

This article was published by OneNewsNow on October 9, 2017

Alex Schadenberg

One opponent of euthanasia is disappointed to see that the Netherlands has taken yet another step toward approving the practice for any reason.

A case in point is the recent euthanasia of 91-year-old Nic and Trees Elderhors, a couple who had been married for 61 years. The two suffered frailty typical of older people and decided to commit suicide together. Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition says their deaths are another indication of how off-track euthanasia has gone.

"Further, I think that this represents a whole other issue, which is the promotion in the Netherlands of the concept of completed life, meaning that somebody doesn't need to be terminally ill and dying in order to have euthanasia," Schadenberg continues. "They simply have to decide that they think their life has been completed, however you might define that."

Schadenberg raises the question of what society is doing that would give elderly people the impression that death by lethal injection is better than life.

"I ask that question for a significant reason, because I think our society also has a problem with how it treats people who are getting elderly," he poses. "I find there's far too much loneliness and depression within our culture."

He suggests one solution to that is to change the culture.

Schadenberg adds that another problem is how the media painted such a rosy picture of the couple holding hands as they died in order to advance euthanasia to its obvious conclusion of committing suicide at any time and for any reason.