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Dutch nursing home death - more excuses, more killing : Comments
By Paul Russell, published 3/2/2017So, what happens after a euthanasia or assisted suicide death occurs and the doctor is found not to have fulfilled one or more of the criteria set down in the law? There should be a charge of homicide.
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Dear Alan B.,
.
I fully understand and share your distress at the fact that suicide is the main cause of death of the 15 to 44-year-olds in Australia - the so-called “lucky country”, of which we are so proud.
I agree that the suicide of a 15-year-old is particularly shocking. It is a clear sign that there is something very wrong with our society.
But suicide is just the final act. It is usually preceded by much pain and suffering - often from a very early age, perhaps even from (if not before) birth – until life becomes absolutely unbearable. And nobody is prepared to do anything about it. Nobody comes to the rescue. Nobody seems to even want to know about it. That is even more distressing.
In fact, according to the most recent statistics, in 2014, suicide was the leading cause of death of children between 5 and 17 years of age. There were no known suicides prior to age 5.
Not surprisingly, the highest age-specific suicide “death rate” (not number of deaths) for males in 2014 was observed in the 85 years and over age group (37.6 per 100,000 males). Whereas, more surprisingly (for me, at least), for females, the highest age-specific suicide “death rate” in 2014 was observed in the 35-39-year age group, with 9.2 deaths per 100,000.
And during the past 24 hours, Alan, since we have been having this brief discussion together, eight Australians have committed suicide.
I dearly regret that those eight people were not able to go to (or be taken to) the nearest hospital and receive the same humanitarian medical care as the terminally ill, if they had so wished – naturally, after having given due consideration to all other forms of aid, protection and assistance that a modern, caring society could possibly offer them.
We obviously did not provide the assistance they needed when they were alive and we were incapable of even offering them a "good death".
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