Dutch Parliament OKs Mercy Killing
Euthanasia, which has been tolerated in the Netherlands for decades and practiced in thousands of cases every year, has been legalized.
For years, mercy killing has been tolerated if not quite legal in the Netherlands, reports CBS News Reporter Lauren Comiteau.
But after Tuesday's 104-40 vote in the Dutch lower house of parliament, doctors who follow certain guidelines will be virtually free from prosecution.
Advocates say the new rules put the Dutch in the vanguard of patient rights, and opponents say the legislation will replace caring with killing.
"What we are going to vote for is to take euthanasia out of the criminal arena," Justice Ministry spokesman Wijnand Stevens said.
Subsequent passage by the Senate is seen as a formality, and Stevens said it was expected to become law sometime next year.
Doctors operate under strict guidelines requiring them to seek a second opinion before granting a euthanasia request. The decision is reviewed by a commission that includes a medical expert and a lawyer.
Unlike current practice, however, the prosecutor's office will no longer review euthanasia cases except if misconduct is suspected.
"If the regulations are met, there won't be a threat of criminal charges," Stevens said.
In 1993, the Dutch adopted euthanasia guidelines, by which it was understood doctors would not be prosecuted even though assisted suicide technically remained a crime punishable by a maximum 12-year prison sentence.
The guidelines state that a patient must be undergoing irremediable and unbearable suffering, be aware of all other medical options and have sought a second professional opinion. The request must be made voluntarily, persistently and independently while the patient is of sound mind. Doctors are not supposed to suggest it as an option.
Under the new law, a patient will be able to make a written request for euthanasia, giving doctors the right to use their own discretion when patients become too physically or mentally ill to decide for themselves.
Rita Marker, executive director of the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force, said the law will send a dangerous signal "telling people that if it's legal, it's right."
"It will be like giving the household seal of approval. What is currently a crime will be transformed into medical treatment," Marker told The Associated Press.
Doctors honor about a one-third of assisted suicide requests in the Netherlands each year, according to government estimates. In 1999, 2,216 cases were recorded, but there also were believed to be a larger number of unregistered cases.
Euthanasia is illegal in the United States. But in Oregon, voters approved doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill in 1994. Since the law took effect in 1997, 43 people have died in Oregon in assisted suicides.
Similar tolerance to euthanasia is shown in Switzerland, Colombia and Belgium, but no other country has attempted to legaliz the practice, health officials and legal experts said.