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Euthanasia debate after Dutch decision


The euthanasia vote has sparked protests in The Netherlands

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands -- Belgium could be the next country to change its laws on mercy killing following the Dutch decision to legalise euthanasia.

Belgium, which has a bill before parliament that would partly decriminalise euthanasia, has been closely following events in The Netherlands.

The Dutch decision on Tuesday to allow doctors to kill patients with terminal diseases who are suffering "unbearably" and if they request it has prompted angry protests.

But the move has been welcomed by campaigners and political leaders in The Netherlands, which is the first country in the world to allow mercy killings.

Dutch authorities said they expected the law to spur similar campaigns elsewhere. "I hope that other governments will find the courage to follow suit," Health Minister Els Borst said.

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Dutch legalise euthanasia

In Belgium, 72 percent of the population is believed to support some sort of death on demand. The figure is 84 percent in France.

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The Dutch senate passes a law making euthanasia legal in the Netherlands. CNN's Ralitsa Vassileva reports

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"The Netherlands acts as an example. Its experience illuminates our debate even if differences exist," Jacqueline Herrenmans, president of Belgium's Association for the Right to Die in Dignity.

In the Netherlands, political leaders said the country must stress that the new law would be carried out with care.

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Jacob Kohnstamm, President of the Dutch voluntary euthanasis society: We wanted to be able to control euthanasia

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It is not an easy choice for anyone involved, Rob Jonquiere, managing director of the Dutch Voluntary Euthanasia Society (DVES), said.

"Most doctors hope, some of them pray, that they will never have another euthanasia case. I'm a doctor myself and I know all doctors have an inbuilt resistance to giving (euthanasia) help."

The Dutch believe legalising euthanasia will clear up a clouded area of law that had left open the possibility of doctors being prosecuted for murder.

The new law insists patients must be adults, have made a voluntary, well-considered and lasting request to die, must be facing 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.

Tamora Langley of the UK Voluntary Euthanasia Society welcomed the news and said: "This is part of a broader development in Europe allowing people to make their own informed choices."

She said the strict requirements meant it "was in no way a licence to kill."

But Rita Marker, a spokesperson for the International Taskforce on Euthanasia, told CNN it was a "chilling" development that would damage doctor-patient relationships.


Dutch euthanasia law

As the vote took place in The Netherlands up to 10,000 protesters gathered, with several Christian schools cancelling classes to allow students from across the country to participate.

After the vote, they said they were disappointed but not surprised.

"The tide will turn back someday," Piet Huurman of the Cry for Life protest group said. "They will realise they have made a terrible mistake."

Germany's Justice Minister Hertha Daeubler-Gmelin also criticised the Dutch legislation, and said the emphasis should remain on therapy to reduce suffering.

Russian Health Minister, Yuri Shevchenko, warned of the dangers.

"In our country, there cannot be euthanasia," he said. "All our medical schools, public opinion, our culture and history would not allow such a law to be passed.

"I can tell you now that this would be subject to abuse, to crime. 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."

The Vatican on Wednesday denounced the Dutch parliament's approval of a law allowing euthanasia and assisted suicide as an "aberrant" and "macabre" decision.

"We find it hard to believe that such a macabre choice can be seen as a 'civil' and 'humanitarian' one," the Vatican daily newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, wrote in an editorial.

"Killing a patient is a criminal act" and doctors conducting mercy killings are similar to "executioners," the editorial said.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.