Netherlands public prosecutor questions euthanasia rules for people who cannot consent.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Last November I published an article reporting that based on the Netherlands Supreme Court decision in April 2020, concerning the euthanasia death of an incompetent woman with dementia who resisted, that the five regional euthanasia review committee's in the Netherlands agreed to rules to expand euthanasia for people with dementia.

The Dutchnews.nl published an article on July 20, 2021 based on a report in the Trouw news stating that the public prosecutor questions the new euthanasia rules for people with dementia who cannot consent. The article reports that the dispute centres on who has the last word about euthanasia - the courts or the committees - and how are decisions made concerning someone with dementia who can longer ask for euthanasia.

The article reports that the new guidelines state that:

"In giving euthanasia to a patient who is no longer mentally competent as a result of advanced dementia, it is not necesary for the doctor to agree with the patient the time or manner in which euthanasia will be given... (since) this kind of discussion is pointless because such a patient will not understand the subject."

The public prosecution department chief Rinus Otte says this goes too far. Otte told the Trouw that this is not in line with the law and doctors can still face prosecution for murder.

According to the article, Trouw reported that the regional euthanasia review committee's are in talks to revise the code and a new version of the code will be published by the end of the year.

As I have stated before euthanasia for people with dementia justifies non-voluntary euthanasia. If it is lawful to kill someone with dementia who cannot request it, but indicated at some point in the past support for this type of death, then soon it will become cruel to not lethally inject someone with dementia who never asked for it.

This is an important issue since Canada's federal government and the Québec government have both established committee's to discuss the further expansion of euthanasia in Canada. 

One area being discussed for expansion in Canada is permitting euthanasia for people who are incompetent (dementia) but previously requested it in their advanced directive.

The dispute between the public prosecutor and the regional review committee's will likely cause Netherlands physicians to refuse to do euthanasia for incompetent people with dementia in order to avoid a possible prosecution.

Once euthanasia is legal, there is no limit for its use. Limiting euthanasia to competent people who make a clear request is discrimination for incompetent people who cannot make a request.

The dispute, the paper said, centres on deciding who has the last word about euthanasia – the courts or the committees – and about how far doctors can go to help someone to die who is no longer able to ask for it.

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

The dispute, the paper said, centres on deciding who has the last word about euthanasia – the courts or the committees – and about how far doctors can go to help someone to die who is no longer able to ask for it.

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

The dispute, the paper said, centres on deciding who has the last word about euthanasia – the courts or the committees – and about how far doctors can go to help someone to die who is no longer able to ask for it.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: