Dutch set to legalise euthanasia

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands -- The Netherlands is set to make history by becoming the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia.

It will mean that Dutch doctors, who have carried out so-called mercy killings for more than 20 years, will no longer face potential murder charges.

Setting out strict guidelines, the proposed law -- which looks set to be agreed next Tuesday -- insists that adult patients must have made a voluntary, well-considered and lasting request to die and face a future of unremitting and unbearable suffering if they do not.

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The doctor must have told the patient about his or her situation and prospects, and reached the firm conclusion there was no reasonable alternative. A second physician must be consulted and the life must be ended in a medically appropriate way.

Latest figures from euthanasia organisations show that Dutch doctors helped 2,216 patients to die in 1999.

The Dutch Voluntary Euthanasia Society figures from 1995, which are considered more reliable as they include deaths not reported to the coroner, show there were 3,600 deaths from euthanasia or assisted suicide that year.

The DVES updates its figures every five years.

"Euthanasia happens in other countries, only often in secret," said Boris Dittrich of the liberal D66 party which, along with coalition partners the labour party PvdA and the free-market VVD, backs the bill.

"That is not good for the patient and also not for the doctor. This proposal, in which all the demands of care are embedded, means that euthanasia is properly regulated."

The Royal Dutch Medical Association welcomed the bill and said it formalised in law mercy killing procedures used by doctors for 20 years.

The three parties of the ruling coalition backed the bill during a debate in parliament late on Thursday which will make the Netherlands the first country formally to allow mercy killing.

Australia's Northern Territory legalised medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients in 1996, but the law was later repealed.

The key lower house of the Dutch parliament is expected to approve the new law next Tuesday.

"The general feeling is the law will be passed on Tuesday," said Walburg de Jong, spokeswoman for the DVES.

But the main opposition Christian Democrats (CDA), smaller Calvinist parties and pro-life pressure groups said they objected to the move.

"We will vote against the bill on Tuesday," said Jack de Vries, spokesman for the CDA which holds 29 seats in the 150 seat parliament.

"We can imagine certain circumstances when there is a case for euthanasia -- but the decision to take someone's life should rest with a judge and not with a doctor," he said.

A highly controversial clause allowing children as young as 12 to demand death even if their parents disagreed was dropped earlier this year. Children between the ages of 12 and 16 can only ask for help to die with parental consent.

"There was a lot of resistance to this clause both by political parties and the public. That has been changed," a health ministry spokesman said.

Another issue supported by the DVES and not dealt with in the bill is mercy killing for those people who are simply "tired of life."

"We think that if you are old, you have no family near and you are really suffering from life then it (euthanasia) should be possible," de Jong said.

"We have to start this discussion but we say, let's get this first part passed because it will also help a lot of people."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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