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Dutch
Hope Euthanasia
Law Will Prompt Debate
THE
HAGUE (Reuters) - Policymakers and pro-euthanasia groups in the
Netherlands voiced the hope that Tuesday's landmark decision to
legalize mercy-killing will encourage discussion on the controversial
issue elsewhere.
The country's
upper house of parliament defied thousands of protesters and voted
by a clear majority on Tuesday to legalize euthanasia, the first
country in the world to do so, bringing into law a practice that
has been tolerated here for over two decades.
Demonstrators
turned out in force earlier on Tuesday to register their opposition
to the bill, but most had headed home by the time of the vote--seen
as a formality after the lower house overwhelmingly approved the
bill last November--was taken.
``I hope other
governments will find the courage to enter into similar debate,''
said Health Minister Els Borst after the senate voted 46-28 to
make euthanasia legal.
At present
only Belgium has agreed on a draft law to legalize the practice,
subject to parliamentary approval. The US state of Oregon allows
physician-assisted suicide.
``I feel glad
because after 27 years we have finally achieved what we have been
campaigning for,'' Rob Jonquiere, managing director of the Dutch
Voluntary Euthanasia Society (DVES), told Reuters after the vote.
``But I feel
sympathetic towards our sister organizations in other countries
because I know they are campaigning as hard. I hope this will
be a great support to them,'' he added.FIRST REACTION FROM ABROAD
NEGATIVE
Early reaction
from abroad, however, was negative.
Russian Health
Minister, Yuri Shevchenko, interviewed by RTR state television,
said the law would be wide open to abuse.
``Imagine
an ill, old man induced to die with his belongings and small apartment
taken from him. This is a great sin and we must not allow it,''
he said.
The Illinois-based
``Not Dead Yet,'' organization, a US disability rights group,
also condemned the action.
``The Dutch
experience with euthanasia is best described as one of increasing
carelessness and callousness over the years,'' it said in a statement.
An influential
Roman Catholic bishop in Poland also spoke against the new law.
``Euthanasia
allowed in one sphere.., can slip out of control and embrace other
groups of people--those unwanted and disabled,'' said Bishop Tadeusz
Pieronek, former secretary general of Poland's episcopate.
The Dutch
believe legalizing euthanasia will clear up a fuzzy area of law
that has left open the possibility of doctors being prosecuted
for murder.
Doctors will
still face prosecution if they fail to follow strict rules. The
new law insists adult patients must have made a voluntary, well-considered
and lasting request to die, that they must face a future of unbearable
suffering and that there must be no reasonable alternative. A
second doctor must be consulted and life must be ended in a medically
appropriate way.
``It must
be stressed how careful this whole procedure is,'' said Nicoline
van den Broek Lamen Trip, leader of the liberal VVD party in the
Senate, which supported the bill.
The Netherlands
has a history of tolerance. It recently became the first country
to allow gay couples to legally marry and adopt children.
Jacob Kohnstamm,
president of the DVES, said prior to the upper house ruling that
he had received thousands of supportive letters and e-mails from
as far afield as Britain, France, Belgium, Australia and the United
States.
``Someone
has to be first. There's nothing to be proud of and nothing to
be ashamed of... Within 25 years, most countries will have a euthanasia
law,'' he said.
Reference
Source 89
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