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We should respect the dying wishes of the terminally ill : Comments
By Leslie Cannold, published 14/2/2007We should have the freedom to decide about euthanasia, according to our needs and values.
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I can understand your desire to make euthanasia 'moral', after you have admitted to unlawfully killing people with little to no remorse for this illegal act.
I may not be able to read dutch, but I certainly have close friends who do. So lets look at how it has gone ....
For instance, in 30 years, Holland has moved through assisted suicide to euthanasia (according to their definition). From euthanasia of the terminally ill, through to chronically ill. From physical illness to mental illness. From mental illness to mental suffering. From voluntary euthanasia to involuntary euthanasia (or the dutch euphamism of "termination of the patient without explicit request"
Government commisions have found that over a 1/3 of deaths in the Netherlands involved a medical decision at the end of life.. Around 1/6 of all deaths involved physicians hastening death with medical treatment. Official Euthanasia according to the strict Dutch definition was 2% (around 2300 in 1990, of which 400 were for mental illness or discomfort). Thousands (roughly 15%) of these medical decisions were without the request of the patient.
Perhaps you live in a fairyland where the legalisation of euthanasia in the netherlands has lessened it's occurance, but a quick perusal of history shows that legalisation of criminal offenses only increases the occurance of things.