Andre Verhoeven, pictured at his first Communion, chose to end his life in January last year.
[From article]
Everyone in the Netherlands, where a right-to-die law was passed in 2002, seems to know of someone who has lost a loved one through a mercy killing.
As many as one in 33 people now use euthanasia to end their lives, and the number of cases rose from 1,923 in 2006 to nearly 5,000 in 2013. It is thought that in 2014 around 6,000 people could have chosen to die by this means.
You might be entitled to think that what people do in Holland is their business and nothing to do with us in Britain. But you could not be more wrong.
If campaigners have their way, the law will be changed here, too, to allow those who wish to end their life to do so at a time of their choosing. For opponents of euthanasia, this raises grave moral questions, as well as concerns that unscrupulous relatives might take advantage of elderly family members — whose estates they might covet — by encouraging them to end their lives.
[. . . ]
Though David Cameron has previously said he would oppose the legalising of assisted dying, if the issue is debated in Parliament, MPs will be given a free vote. But if it ever comes to that, they would do well to heed the warning of the senior Dutch ethicist who supported euthanasia and oversaw the law when it was introduced in Holland, but who has now advised the UK not to blindly follow suit.
Professor Theo Boer says that it would lead to widespread killing of the sick. ‘Don’t do it, Britain,’ he urged last year. ‘Once the genie is out of the bottle, it is not likely ever to go back in again.’
[. . .]
The Dutch ignored warnings that killings would become commonplace, yet now Dr Boer insists assisted suicide has ‘turned a last resort into a normal procedure’.
The legalisation of euthanasia has led to ‘Life End clinics’ being set up where Dutch people, if faced with a reluctant local doctor, are helped to commit suicide. Indeed, mobile teams of euthanasia doctors operate across the country who will kill people if their own GP refuses on ethical grounds.
[. . .]
In 2010, a citizens’ initiative called Out Of Free Will demanded that all Dutch people over 70 who feel tired of life should have the right to professional medical help in ending it all. Many thousands of people supported this idea.
But the euthanasia business does not just concern the elderly. It is now acceptable for a doctor to end the life of a baby, with the parents’ consent, if it is in pain or facing a life of hopeless suffering.
[. . .]
Even physically healthy people suffering from depression have been killed by doctors under Holland’s right-to-die laws.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2893778/As-debate-assisted-suicide-dispatch-Holland-thousands-choose-die-year.html
The country where death is now just a lifestyle choice: A mum with ringing ears. Babies whose parents don't want them to suffer. They've all been allowed to die by assisted suicide in Holland
Andre Verhoeven planned to retire at 65 to travel the world with wife Dora
He was diagnosed with acute leukaemia and was told there was no cure
He chose to end his life at 64 and died in January last year
Gaby Olthuis suffered ‘24-hour noise’ in her head, ‘like a train screeching'
To end her suffering, she was given a lethal potion to drink at her home
She left behind two teenage children, a boy of 13 and a girl aged 15
By
SUE REID FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 17:27 EST, 1 January 2015 | UPDATED: 05:16 EST, 2 January 2015
