Dutch Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide Bill Details and Chronology

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Under the bill enacted by the Dutch parliament Tuesday, a patient seeking assisted suicide or euthanasia must be a legal resident of the Netherlands. A doctor performing the practice on a patient must first:

- be satisfied that the patient has made a voluntary and carefully considered request;

- be satisfied that the patient's suffering was unbearable, and that there was no prospect of improvement;

- have informed the patient about his situation and his prospects;

- have come to the conclusion, together with the patient, that there is no reasonable alternative in the light of the patient's situation; and

- have consulted at least one other, independent physician, who must have seen the patient and given a written opinion on the due care criteria referred to in a. to d. above.

Doctor must terminate the patient's life or provided assistance with suicide ``with due medical care and attention.'' The doctor must notify the municipal coroner after performing euthanasia. Age plays no role. Being simply "tired of life" is not covered by the bill.

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Chronology: Netherlands' growing tolerance of euthanasia

Here is a chronology of key events leading to Tuesday's vote by the Dutch upper house of parliament to legalise euthanasia.

The Netherlands now becomes the only country to make assisted suicide and euthanasia legal, after tolerating the practice for more than two decades.

1973 Dutch court outlines conditions which can override doctors' vow to prolong life. It imposes a one-week suspended sentence and one year of probation on a doctor who injected her mother with a lethal dose of morphine.

1984 Dutch Supreme Court overturns conviction of doctor who terminated the life of an aged woman who revealed in her will that she had requested euthanasia. The court ruled that the doctor had properly resolved a conflict between preserving a patient's life and alleviating suffering.

1993 Dutch parliament passes law to regulate mercy killing with a 28-point checklist for doctors to follow in euthanasia cases. Doctors should find patients are terminally ill, in unbearable pain and have repeatedly asked to die. Euthanasia remains a criminal offence carrying a maximum 12-year jail sentence, but doctors who follow guidelines told they should not expect to be punished. Public prosecutor to decide on case-by-case basis whether to prosecute.

1994 Dutch Supreme Court upholds a conviction, but declines to impose a penalty, for a doctor who helped a woman commit suicide at her request. The woman was not terminally ill, but had a long history of depression. The court ruled that the doctor should have consulted an independent medical expert before acting.

1995 Dutch court rules in two cases that doctors who ended the lives of two severely handicapped babies at the request of their parents were justified. The doctors should not be punished even though a charge of murder was formally proven. The doctors were the first to be prosecuted for ending the lives of patients unable to express their own will.

1997 Government unveils euthanasia reform after official inquiry reveals about 60 percent of mercy killings go unreported by doctors who fear prosecution. Under new measures, reported euthanasia cases are no longer automatically referred to prosecutors, but to an independent panel of medical, legal and ethical experts.

1999 Government delivers bill to parliament to legalise euthanasia.

November 28, 2000 Lower house votes to legalise euthanasia under strict conditions.

March 2001 An Amsterdam doctor is convicted of murder, but given no prison sentence, after a court ruled he failed to follow euthanasia principles.

April 10, 2001 Upper house of parliament, the Senate, votes 46 to 28 in favour of legalising euthanasia under strict conditions.

The Pro-Life Infonet
10. april 2001