NETHERLANDS HOSPITAL EUTHANIZES BABIES]

[Guest guest]

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=60410

 

>NETHERLANDS HOSPITAL EUTHANIZES BABIES

>

>Posted By: Seidr <Send E-Mail>

>Tuesday, 30 November 2004, 5:01 p.m.

>

>In Response FUTURE GENERATIONS (Seidr)

>

> Nov 30, 3:03 PM (ET)

>

> By TOBY STERLING

>

> AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -

>

> A hospital in the Netherlands - the first nation to permit euthanasia -

>recently proposed guidelines for mercy killings

> of terminally ill newborns,

>

> and then made a startling revelation:

> It has already begun carrying out such procedures,

> which include administering a lethal dose of sedatives.

>

> The announcement by the Groningen Academic Hospital

> came amid a growing discussion in Holland on whether to legalize

>euthanasia on people incapable of deciding for themselves whether they want

>to end their lives -

> a prospect viewed with horror by euthanasia opponents

> and as a natural evolution by advocates.

>

> In August, the main Dutch doctors' association KNMG

> urged the Health Ministry to create an independent

> board to review euthanasia cases for terminally ill

> people " with no free will, "

> including children, the severely mentally retarded

> and people left in an irreversible coma after an accident.

>

> SNIP

>

> Three years ago, the Dutch parliament made it legal

> for doctors to inject a sedative and a lethal dose

> of muscle relaxant at the request of adult patients

> suffering great pain with no hope of relief.

>

> The Groningen Protocol, as the hospital's guidelines

> have come to be known, would create a legal framework

> for permitting doctors to actively end the life of newborns deemed to be

>in similar pain from incurable disease

> or extreme deformities.

>

> The guideline says euthanasia is acceptable

> when the child's medical team and independent doctors

> agree the pain cannot be eased

> and there is no prospect for improvement,

> and when parents think it's best.

>

> Examples include extremely premature births,

> where children suffer brain damage from bleeding and convulsions;

> and diseases where a child could only survive

> on life support for the rest of its life,

> such as severe cases of spina bifida

> and epidermosis bullosa, a rare blistering illness.

>

> The hospital revealed last month it carried out four

> such mercy killings in 2003, and reported all cases to government

>prosecutors.

> There have been no legal proceedings against

> the hospital or the doctors.

>

> Roman Catholic organizations and the Vatican

> have reacted with outrage to the announcement,

> and U.S. euthanasia opponents contend the proposal

> shows the Dutch have lost their moral compass.

>

> SNIP

>

> Child euthanasia remains illegal everywhere.

> Experts say doctors outside Holland do not report cases

> for fear of prosecution.

>

> " As things are, people are doing this secretly

> and that's wrong, " said Eduard Verhagen,

> head of Groningen's children's clinic.

>

> " In the Netherlands we want to expose everything,

> to let everything be subjected to vetting. "

>

> According to the Justice Ministry, four cases of child euthanasia were

>reported to prosecutors in 2003.

>

> Two were reported in 2002, seven in 2001 and five in 2000.

> All the cases in 2003 were reported by Groningen,

> but some of the cases in other years were

> from other hospitals.

>

> Groningen estimated the protocol would be applicable

> in about 10 cases per year in the Netherlands,

> a country of 16 million people.

>

> Since the introduction of the Dutch law,

> Belgium has also legalized euthanasia, while in France, legislation to

>allow doctor-assisted suicide is currently

> under debate.

> In the United States, the state of Oregon is alone

> in allowing physician-assisted suicide,

> but this is under constant legal challenge.

>

> However, experts acknowledge that doctors euthanize

> routinely in the United States and elsewhere,

> but that the practice is hidden.

>

> " Measures that might marginally extend a child's life

> by minutes or hours or days or weeks are stopped.

> This happens routinely, namely, every day, "

> said Lance Stell,

> professor of medical ethics at Davidson College

> in Davidson, N.C., and staff ethicist at Carolinas Medical Center in

>Charlotte, N.C.

>

> " Everybody knows that it happens, but there's a lot of hypocrisy. Instead,

>people talk about things they're

> not going to do. "

>

> More than half of all deaths occur under medical supervision,

> so it's really about management and method of death,

> Stell said.

>

>

>

> SWISS VOTERS O.K. STEM CELL RESEARCH (views: 59)

> Seidr -- Tuesday, 30 November 2004, 6:21 a.m.

>

> a.. FUTURE GENERATIONS (views: 71)

> Seidr -- Tuesday, 30 November

>

>

>

>