Politics
Friday September 30, 2005
Netherlands Set to Give Go-Ahead to Child Euthanasia
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
AMSTERDAM, September 30, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Dutch officials are set to give child euthanasia the go-ahead. The practice is already widespread there with an estimated 15-20 cases per year despite it being illegal. No paediatricians have been prosecuted. The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia in 2001.
The governing Christian Democrats said they will approve the Groningen Protocol, the child euthanasia guidelines named after the euthanist doctors from Groningen University Medical Centre. The protocol suggests that euthanasia be permitted when a child is terminally ill with no hope of recovery and in pain, and that parents are in agreement with the opinions of two doctors.
The government plans to set up a commission that will review that all the conditions have been met, or else a public prosecutor will become involved. So far no doctors committing child euthanasia have been prosecuted, even though it is still illegal.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia paediatrician and ethicist Dr. Chris Feudtner told the AP he vehemently opposes the Dutch government’s decision. “I categorically do not endorse ending people's lives with the argument that it's alleviating their suffering,” he said. “I think too often the impulse is to resort to extreme measures because we're not being effective enough in the management of pain. If you allow it to occur, it will occur in cases where it is not ethical, period,” he added.
The vice-president of the Pontifical Academy for Life roundly condemned the Dutch proposal to extend euthanasia to children under the age of 12 last year. Bishop Elio Sgreccia said that with this policy, “the final boundary will have been crossed.”
See the CP report:
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050929/w092978.html
See related LifeSiteNews.com reports:
Dutch Proposal for Euthanasia of Children Blasted by Vatican
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/sep/04090709.html
Infant Euthanasia Underreported in Netherlands, Study Finds
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/mar/05031102.html
Dutch Doctors Admit to Euthanizing Babies
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/nov/04113005.html
Dutch Euthanasia Doctor Admits to Killing 4 Newborns With Lethal Injections
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/05042706.html
tv
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.