Specialist euthanasia clinic faces 22% increase in requests for help

DutchNews, February 7, 2020 

Photo: DutchNews.nl

A specialist clinic set up to help people whose doctors do not support euthanasia, or who feel unable to help in their situation, received a record 3,122 requests last year, a rise of 22%. 

Of them, 898 people, or 29% were helped to end their lives by the specialist teams, the same percentage as in 2018, the clinic said on Friday. 

In particular, people with complex health issues such as dementia and psychiatric problems turn to the clinic, known as the Expertisecentrum Euthanasie, for help. 

The rise in requests has led to a shortage of healthcare professionals across the board, particularly in The Hague and Rotterdam, the clinic said, and the waiting lists are growing. 

Last September staff at the clinic said that requests for help had risen 15% in the first six months of the year. The increase, they said, may be partly due to the extra scrutiny doctors are facing from justice ministry officials. 

One doctor was put on trial for murder for carrying out a euthanasia request, which, according to the public prosecution department, was not in line with the rules last year, but was eventually acquitted. 

According to the Dutch law, which dates back to 2002, patients must be experiencing unbearable suffering without perspective of improvement in order to be eligible for euthanasia. Two doctors have to approve the request.

Research shows 10,000 over-55s have a death wish

DutchNews, January 30, 2020 - By Senay Boztas

New research commissioned by the Dutch government has found that around 10,000 people of 55 and over have a serious death wish. 

The Van Wijngaarden commission, tasked with looking into how many people might want euthanasia because they simply no longer wish to go on living, said 0.18% of people over 55 would like to die. 

In a briefing to MPs, health minister Hugo de Jonge wrote: ‘There is no doubt that the results show this is a major social issue both for this government and for society. This group of people’s death wish is serious and the report underlines the need for action.’ 

De Jonge, a Christian Democrat MP and also deputy prime minister, said government policies should do everything possible to ‘help these people find meaning in life again’. 

However, the report is set to divide the coalition government, which unites the liberal VVD, two Christian parties and the liberal democratic D66. 

Pia Dijkstra, who leads on ethical issues for D66, immediately announced that she would next month submit a private members’ bill calling for a new ‘completed life’ law to allow people over 75 without unbearable medical conditions to request euthanasia. ‘Studies show there is broad support for people to manage a dignified end to their own lives,’ she said on Twitter. 

However, De Jonge said in his briefing that the death wish ‘is not static’ and so the answers would not be found in broadening euthanasia legislation or introducing new rules. 

ChristenUnie MP Carla Dik-Faber told the NOS broadcaster that her party fiercely opposed such legislation too. ‘Making a suicide pill available would be the most cynical response to people with a death wish,’ she reportedly said. ‘We would be giving up on them instead of wanting to be there for them.’

Strong support for euthanasia, majority back help for people ‘tired of life’

DutchNews, November 19, 2019

Photo: DutchNews.nl

A narrow majority of the Dutch support the introduction of assisted suicide for people who feel their life is at an end, even though they are physically healthy, according to a representative survey of 3,600 people by national statistics agency CBS. 

In total, 55% said they believed people who are tired of life should be able to get help to die, while 33% said this should not be an option. 

A third of those who backed assisted suicide said they favoured the introduction of a lower age limit, while half said age should not play a role at all. 

Euthanasia continues to have widespread support in the Netherlands, with 87% backing the practice in some circumstances. Muslims and strict Protestants are least likely to support any form of euthanasia, but even among them there is a majority support for the principle. 

Eight in 10 people also support euthanasia for people with severe dementia, if they had made their wishes plain before they became ill. Some 74% backed euthanasia for people with severe psychiatric problems and 75% for children with terminal illnesses. 

The Liberal democratic party is drawing up its own legislation which would make it possible for the over-75s who consider their life is at an end to be helped to die and aims to present the measure to parliament early next year. 

Euthanasia was legalised in the Netherlands in 2002 for those over 12 experiencing ‘hopeless and unbearable suffering’, who want to die and have come to the conclusion independently. Two doctors have to agree that the conditions have been met. 

Euthanasia currently accounts for around 4% of Dutch deaths, mostly involving cancer patients.

Doctor who euthanised patient with severe dementia is not guilty of murder

DutchNews, September 11, 2019 

Photo: DutchNews.nl 

Judges in The Hague have found a nursing home doctor not guilty of murder after she performed euthanasia on a woman with severe dementia. 

The court ruled that the euthanasia had been carried out with proper care in what is the first case of its kind to come before the Dutch courts. The doctor, who has since retired, did not have to verify her wish to die with the patient because she was incapable of responding, the judges said. 

In addition, the court said it supported the doctor’s decision to put a sedative in the woman’s coffee to calm her before euthanasia drugs could be administered because it had made her as comfortable as possible. The sedation took place in the full knowledge of her family. 

The public prosecution department, who brought the case, had said the doctor is guilty of murder but that she should not be punished. 

The case centres on a 74-year-old woman who had drawn up a living will some years before her admission to the nursing home and had regularly stated that she wanted to die. ‘This is a case which impacts upon the whole country and which has divided the country,’ the prosecutor told the court during August’s hearing. 

Daughter 

The woman’s daughter said in a written statement in court that she had no doubt her mother wished to die. ‘The doctor freed my mother from the mental prison which she ended up in,’ the statement said. 

Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands under strict conditions. For example, the patient must be suffering unbearable pain and the doctor must be convinced the patient is making an informed choice. The opinion of a second doctor is also required. 

Since the legislation was introduced in 2002, there have been a number of controversial cases, including a woman suffering severe tinnitus and a serious alcoholic.

D66 to press ahead with bill to support assisted suicide for ‘completed lives’

DutchNews, September 2, 2019 

Photo: Jan Dijkstra via Wikimedia Commons 

The Liberal democratic party is drawing up its own legislation which would make it possible for the elderly who consider their life is at an end to be helped to die. D66 parliamentarian Pia Dijkstra told the AD in an interview that she plans to introduce a draft bill early next year.

Ministers are currently looking into the options for assisted suicide for people who are ‘tired of life’ but, says Dijkstra, health minister Hugo de Jonge is not working quickly enough. 

‘The minister obviously senses the urgency less than I do,’ she said. ‘The very elderly who have had enough should be able to die when they choose.’ 

In June the government launched a new campaign to encourage people to think more about the end of their lives – well before they reach them. 

The website About Palliative Care brings together all sorts of information about care options for later life and how to talk with family and friends about your wishes. 

Although it links to a government website giving more information about advanced care directives – which can be used to give instructions such as ‘do not resuscitate’ orders and euthanasia wishes in cases such as advancing dementia – the website does not dwell much on euthanasia itself. 

Euthanasia was legalised in the Netherlands in 2002 for those over 12 experiencing ‘hopeless and unbearable suffering’, who want to die and have come to the conclusion independently. Two doctors have to agree that the conditions have been met. 

Pill 

In 2015, the Dutch voluntary euthanasia society relaunched its campaign to have a pill made available to elderly people who wish to end their lives. 

The idea for such a pill was first launched at the beginning of the 1990s by senior judge and euthanasia campaigner Huib Drion and became known as ‘Drion’s pill’. He said the pill should be issued free of charge to everyone over the age of 70 but his initiative foundered on medical, ethical and legal grounds.

Doctor in euthanasia case guilty of murder, public prosecutor says

DutchNews, August 26, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

 A doctor who performed euthanasia on a patient with severe dementia should be found guilty of murder but not given any punishment, the public prosecution department said at the doctor’s trial in The Hague on Monday. 

While there are no doubts about the doctor’s good intentions, she should have been more proactive in talking to the patient about her wish to die, the public prosecutor said in court. 

The case, the first of its kind in the Netherlands, centres on a 74-year-old woman who had drawn up a living will some years before her admission to the nursing home and had regularly stated that she wanted to die. 

‘This is a case which impacts upon the whole country and which has divided the country,’ the prosecutor said. 

The doctor said in court that she had spoken three times to her patient about her wish to die, but not about her living will because ‘she could not remember anything about it’. Her long and short-term memory was shot and she no longer recognised her husband, the doctor said. 

The woman’s daughter said in a written statement in court that she had no doubt her mother wished to die. ‘The doctor freed my mother from the mental prison which she ended up in,’ the statement said. 

Euthanasia for people with severe dementia is rare and last year two cases were reported. In total 144 people who were in the first stages of the disease were given euthanasia, compared to 12 a decade ago. 

Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands under strict conditions. For example, the patient must be suffering unbearable pain and the doctor must be convinced the patient is making an informed choice. The opinion of a second doctor is also required. 

Since the legislation was introduced in 2002, there have been a number of controversial cases, including a woman suffering severe tinnitus and a serious alcoholic.

Award-winning teen writer Noa Pothoven chooses to die due to ‘unbearable suffering’

DutchNews, June 5, 2019 - By Senay Boztas 

A 17-year-old girl from Arnhem who suffered from years of PTSD, depression and anorexia after being sexually assaulted as a child has died. 

Noa Pothoven, the author of the award-winning book Winnen of Leren (‘winning or learning’) wrote in a post on Instagram – which has now been deleted – that she was ‘being let go because my suffering is unbearable.’ 

According to the AD, her last days were spent in a hospital bed in her family’s living room, saying goodbye to her near and dear, and her sister announced her death on Sunday. 

Although it has been widely reported around the world that she died through euthanasia – following an unconfirmed report from the Central European News wire service – the circumstances of her death are unclear. A journalist from Politico Europe has claimed that the reports were incorrect and due to a failure of checking. 

In her Instagram post, the young woman had said that she would stop eating, and expected to die within 10 days. 

She had, however, investigated the possibilities of euthanasia through the Levenseindekliniek in Den Haag last year, according to The Gelderlander local newspaper, and then been rejected. 

The young woman had written critically about her traumatising experiences of isolation cells in psychiatric care institutions, and praised GroenLinks MP Lisa Westerveld when she took up the subject of inadequate youth care in the Netherlands. 

After suicide attempts, last year she had said that she would try trauma therapy a final time and her mother, Lisette, told The Gelderlander that she was choosing ‘the road towards death’ while her family wanted her to choose life. 

A spokeswoman for Westerveld, who was one of the people invited to say goodbye to Ms Pothoven before her death, said: ‘as far as we know, she died because she didn’t eat any more,’ adding that the girl has not yet been buried. 

The euthanasia clinic that the young woman reportedly consulted last year would not confirm or deny if she was a patient. Elke Swart, spokeswoman for the Levenseindkliniek in The Hague, said: ‘We cannot say anything about it. There are very few young adults in euthanasia clinics, and it’s even rarer to see them for psychiatric reasons. Euthanasia of someone who is 60 is very different to that of someone who is 16. But we follow the law, which says someone must be in unbearable suffering with no other alternative.’ 

Although euthanasia has been legal in the Netherlands since 2002, the number of cases dropped for the first time in a decade last year. Three cases have been referred to the public prosecution service for not following strict rules, and some commentators have said doctors are more wary after more controversial circumstances involving dementia (2.4% of the 6,126 euthanasia cases last year) and psychiatric forms of suffering (1%). The vast majority of euthanasia procedures, however, involve someone with a terminal sickness, and 66% last year related to untreatable cancer.

A 17-year-old rape victim was NOT euthanised in the Netherlands.@euronews @Independent @DailyMailUK @dailybeast are all wrong
It took me about 10 mins to check with the reporter who wrote the original Dutch story.
Noa Pothoven asked for euthanasia and was refused (cont.) pic.twitter.com/e7PYQSCxG1

— Naomi O'Leary (@NaomiOhReally) 5 juni 2019

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Formal reprimand for doctor who performed euthanasia on dementia patient

DutchNews, July 24, 2018

Photo: Jan Dijkstra via Wikimedia Commons

A doctor who performed euthanasia on a woman with severe dementia has been given a formal reprimand by the Dutch medical complaints board. 

The case centres on a 74-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with dementia five years ago. At the time she completed a living will, saying she did not want to go into a home and that she wished to die when she considered the time was right. 

After her condition deteriorated, she was placed in a nursing home where she became fearful and angry and took to wandering through the corridors at night. The nursing home doctor reviewed her case and decided that the woman was suffering unbearably, which would justify her wish to die. 

The doctor put a drug designed to make her sleep into her coffee which is against the rules. She also pressed ahead with inserting a drip into the woman’s arm despite her protests and asked her family to hold her down, according to the official report on the death. This too contravenes the guidelines. 

The medical complaints committee said the doctor was at fault for not trying to discuss the decision with the patient. The doctor has already been given a formal reprimand by the euthanasia complaints council for breaking the guidelines and the public prosecution department is also investigating the case. 

Once the public prosecution department has finished its investigation it will decide whether or not the doctor, a specialist in geriatric medicine, should face criminal charges.The doctor has since retired. 

Legislation

In 2016, the justice and health ministries relaxed the guidelines for performing euthanasia on people with severe dementia a little so that patients can be helped to die even if they incapable of making their current feelings known. 

However, they do have to have signed a euthanasia declaration with their family doctor before they become too seriously ill to be considered for help in dying. 

Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands under strict conditions. For example, the patient must be suffering unbearable pain and the doctor must be convinced the patient is making an informed choice. The opinion of a second doctor is also required. 

Since the legislation was introduced in 2002, there have been a number of controversial cases, including a woman suffering severe tinnitus and a serious alcoholic.

More euthanasia in the Netherlands, nearly all cases in line with the rules

DutchNews, March 7, 2018

The number of people helped to die under Dutch euthanasia legislation rose 8% last year to 6,585, the regional monitoring committee said on Wednesday. Of them, 99.8% were carried out carefully and in line with the guidelines, the committee says in its 2017 annual report. 

In almost 90% of cases, the patient was suffering from cancer, heart and artery disease or diseases of the nervous system, such as Parkinson and MS. Three patients were in the advanced stage of dementia and 166 were in earlier stages. 

In 83 cases, the patient was suffering from severe psychiatric issues, a trend which has raised questions among psychiatrists, RTLNieuws reported earlier this year. 

Twelve cases were labeled by the monitoring committee as not being carefully carried out – these were mainly problems with medical care or not having an independent second opinion. 

Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands under strict conditions. For example, the patient must be suffering unbearable pain and the doctor must be convinced the patient is making an informed choice. The opinion of a second doctor is also required. 

The 8% rise in cases is in line with previous years and most patients are over the age of 70. ‘People are becoming older,’ said Jacob Kohnstamm, who chairs the committee, in the NRC. ‘Doctors know more about euthanasia and people are more aware of the issues. Given the post war population increase, this trend will continue.’

Man who helped mother, 99, to die gets suspended jail term

DutchNews, January 31, 2018

Photo: Jan Dijkstra via Wikimedia Commons 

An elderly man who helped his 99-year-old mother to die 10 years ago has been given a six month suspended jail sentence, by judges in Den Bosch. 

Albert Heringa (75) was earlier cleared on all charges but the Supreme Court said in March 2017 there should be a retrial because euthanasia carried out by someone other than a doctor must be subject to ‘very strict rules’. 

In addition, his earlier appeal was ‘granted far too lightly’, the court said. 

Heringa decided to help his mother die when doctors refused her request to administer a lethal dose of medication. He filmed his mother, who was almost blind and suffering from crippling back pains, as he helped her take the pills that would kill her. She had been secretly storing up the pills for some time. 

The footage featured in a documentary called De laatste wens van Moek (Mum’s final wish) which was broadcast in 2010. 

The public prosecution department had called for a three month suspended jail term.

Specialist euthanasia clinic is unable to cope with demand

DutchNews, October 27, 2017

The number of requests for euthanasia made to a special clinic for people whose doctors won’t help is rising so quickly that the organisation is looking for some 50 new members of staff. 

In 2016 the clinic received some 1,800 requests, of which around 500 led to euthanasia being carried out. This year, the clinic expects 2,500 requests, of which 750 will lead to euthanasia, the clinic’s director Steven Pleiter told the Volkskrant. 

Pleiter said the 59 doctors now working for the foundation are unable to cope with the additional volume of requests and the clinic will need more than a hundred doctors next year. 

The clinic also needs more psychiatrists because some 25% of requests are made by patients with psychological complaints. 

The Dutch voluntary euthanasia society established the clinic in 2012. Pleiter said the rise in the number of requests for euthanasia is due to the fact that more people want to choose how they die,. ‘The taboo is disappearing. Many people feel the need to take to control themselves,’ he said. 

VU university researcher Bregje Onwuteaka-Philipsen, who specialises in end-of-life care, told the Volkskrant requests for euthanasia have risen from around 13,000 in 2011 to 18,000 last year. One reason may be that the current generation approaching old age is less religious, she said. 

Official cases 

According to the Dutch law patients must be experiencing unbearable suffering without perspective of improvement in order to be eligible for euthanasia. The number of official cases rose 10% last year to 6091 and euthanasia now accounts for 4% of total deaths, according to government figures.

In 10 cases, the rules for euthanasia were not followed correctly, most of which involved a failure to properly consult a second doctor, the RTE annual report said. 

Of the total, 87% of assisted deaths involved people with cancer, serious heart or lung problems or diseases of the nervous system such as ALS.

Public prosecutor investigates euthanasia of woman with dementia

DutchNews, September 28, 2017

The public prosecution department has opened a criminal investigation into a doctor who performed euthanasia on a woman who had severe dementia. 

It is the first time since the law legalising euthanasia came into effect in 2002 that there has been a formal criminal probe into a doctor’s actions. The doctor has already been formally reprimanded for breaking euthanasia guidelines. 

The case centres on a 74-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with dementia five years ago. At the time she completed a living will, saying she did not want to go into a home and that she wished to die when she considered the time was right. 

After her condition deteriorated, she was placed in a nursing home where she became fearful and angry and took to wandering through the corridors at night. The nursing home doctor reviewed her case and decided that the woman was suffering unbearably, which would justify her wish to die. 

The doctor put a drug designed to make her sleep into her coffee which is against the rules. She also pressed ahead with inserting a drip into the woman’s arm despite her protests and asked her family to hold her down, according to the official report on the death. This too contravenes the guidelines. 

Once the public prosecution department has finished its investigation it will decide whether or not the doctor, a specialist in geriatric medicine, should face criminal charges. 

Severe dementia

Last year, the justice and health ministries relaxed the guidelines for performing euthanasia on people with severe dementia a little so that patients can be helped to die even if they incapable of making their current feelings known. However, they do have to have signed a euthanasia declaration with their family doctor before they become too seriously ill to be considered for help in dying. 

Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands under strict conditions. For example, the patient must be suffering unbearable pain and the doctor must be convinced the patient is making an informed choice. The opinion of a second doctor is also required. 

In 2015 some 5,500 people, mainly cancer sufferers, were helped to die under the euthanasia legislation. Of them, 109 were suffering dementia and were in the early stages of the disease. Since the legislation was introduced in 2002, there have been a number of controversial cases, including a woman suffering severe tinnitus and a serious alcoholic. 

Number of official cases of euthanasia rise 10% in the Netherlands

DutchNews, April 12, 2017    

The number of official cases of euthanasia in the Netherlands rose 10% last year to 6091 and euthanasia now accounts for 4% of total deaths, the regional monitoring boards said on Wednesday. 

In 10 cases, the rules for euthanasia were not followed correctly, most of which involved a failure to properly consult a second doctor, the RTE annual report said. In one case, a doctor was reprimanded for ‘crossing the line’ with a patient suffering from severe dementia. 

Of the total, 87% of assisted deaths involved people with cancer, serious heart or lung problems or diseases of the nervous system such as ALS. 

There were 32 more cases of assisted suicide involving people with dementia, most of whom were in the early stages of the disease. In addition, there were 60 cases involving people with severe psychiatric problems, a rise of four on 2015. 

Demographics

Monitoring committee chairman Jacob Kohnstamm said it is not easy to determine why there has been a rise in overall cases. The demographic make-up of the Netherlands could be one reason for the increase, as could a change of opinion among doctors, he said. 

Some 85% of euthanasia requests are carried out by the patient’s own doctor, usually at home. 

Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands under strict conditions. For example, the patient must be suffering unbearable pain and the doctor must be convinced the patient is making an informed choice. The opinion of a second doctor is also required. 

Since the legislation was introduced in 2002, there have been a number of controversial cases, including a woman suffering severe tinnitus and a serious alcoholic.

Liberal politicians open to idea of assisted suicide for under-75s

DutchNews, March 3, 2017

Politicians have suggested that an assisted suicide bill for the over-75s could in future possibly apply to younger people, reports NOS broadcaster. 

On television programme Nieuwsuur on Thursday evening, Alexander Pechtold, head of the liberal democratic D66, said he personally believed that this option should be open regardless of age. 

Pia Dijkstra, a member of his party has brought a private members bill, proposing to make it legal – with certain safeguards – to arrange the death of anyone over 75 with an ‘intrinsic and consistent’ wish to die. 

Last year the government announced that it wanted to introduce such assisted suicide legislation, despite a report by an independent committee of experts recommending against legal euthanasia for those who consider their lives to be completed. 

Euthanasia was legalised in the Netherlands in 2002 for those over 12 experiencing ‘hopeless and unbearable suffering’, who want to die and have come to the conclusion independently. 

In answer to a question from a 57-year-old man who said he wants to die, Pechtold said the time was not ripe for a broader law, but that he was personally in favour. ‘I think that in a civilization, thoughts about death are for the individual,’ he said. ‘You didn’t ask to be put upon this earth and if you say – with full understanding – that this is enough…That is my personal opinion.’ 

But, he added, ‘We now have support for this initiative [by Pia Dijkstra]. In order not to disrupt this support, we need to take it step by step.’ 

Although Christian parties reacted in shock to Pechtold’s personal opinion, Liberal VVD MP Arno Rutte – whose party is currently in government – agreed. He told NOS on Friday: ‘It would be good if it were possible for people who consider their lives to be completed to have a way to end their lives in a dignified manner,’ he said. 

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Assisted dying could be legalised for over-75s who have had ‘enough of life’

DutchNews, December 19, 2016    

D66 MP Pia Dijkstra has proposed
a change in the law. 

Assisted suicide could be extended to anyone over the age of 75 who no longer wants to live, even if they are not ill, under a bill brought forward by D66 MP Pia Dijkstra. 

The bill would make it legal to arrange the death of anyone with an ‘intrinsic and consistent’ wish to die. The request would be granted and carried by a registered end-of-life practitioner, which could be a doctor, nurse or psychologist, and they will have to seek a second opinion before deciding. 

A number of safeguards are included in the proposed legislation. The wish to die must be confirmed in a second interview after the original request, with a gap of at least two months in between. The case will also be reviewed by an independent commission, as happens currently with euthanasia. 

At the moment euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands only for patients who are experiencing unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement. Cancer patients account for around 70% of euthanasia deaths, but the total number has increased by 70% in the last five years. 

Dijkstra told Nieuwsuur: ‘There are plenty of examples of people who say, “I’ve had enough of life, I have children and grandchildren, they’re all doing well, but I’m detached, I don’t play a role in their lives any more. The only thing waiting for me is decline and I don’t want to go through that.”’ 

Dijkstra said the conditions were designed to ensure that assisted suicide would only be granted to people who made the request ‘of their own free will, properly considered and without pressure from outside’ and who were mentally fit to make the decision. 

The bill will be placed online so people can comment and respond before it is put before Parliament, which will not happen until after the general election next March, Dijkstra said. 

Health minister Edith Schippers told Parliament in October that the government was looking to legalise assisted suicide for elderly people who were ‘suffering from life’, but did not bring forward any firm proposals. 

At the time her plan was criticised by opposition politicians who said the government should be concentrating on improving the quality of life for the elderly. 

Gert-Jan Segers, leader of the ChristenUnie party, said: ‘In what kind of society do we want to live? What’s the answer to loneliness? I can’t accept that it’s giving someone a pill.’

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Ministers back assisted suicide for people who feel their life has been completed

Ministers back assisted suicide for people who feel their life has been completed

DutchNews, October 13, 2016

People who feel their ‘life has been completed’ should get the legal right to die with the help of a specialist care worker, health minister Edith Schippers and justice minister Ard van de Steur have told MPs in a briefing. 

The proposal follows years of discussion in parliament and in society at large about the right of people who consider their lives have reached the end to die peacefully. 

In their briefing, the ministers say that ‘elderly’ people with a consistent and well-considered wish to die – whether ill or not – should be able to take a drug to end their lives. Family members would not be allowed to administer the drug.

All requests for help would be assessed by a specially trained care worker and an independent expert to make sure the patient is not acting on impulse or has come under undue pressure from his or her family, the ministers said. 

Justice

The practice would not be considered euthanasia, in which the patient is said to be suffering unbearably, and in which doctors have an active role. 

The change in the law would ‘do justice to a legitimate and growing wish in society in general’, the ministers said. 

The cabinet believes that people who consider their life to be complete should have the autonomous right to ask for help to kill themselves, the ministers said in their letter. 

Experts 

The cabinet statement follows a report by an independent committee of experts earlier this year which said that euthanasia for people who consider their lives to be completed should not be allowed in law. 

The committee was set up following the acquittal of a man who had helped his 99-year-old mother to die because she felt her life was at an end. 

In November 2014, the voluntary euthanasia society relaunched its campaign to have a pill made available to elderly people who wish to end their lives. 

Drion

The idea for such a pill was first launched at the beginning of the 1990s by senior judge and euthanasia campaigner Huib Drion and became known as ‘Drion’s pill’. 

The NVVE says the pills should only be issued by pharmacists or family doctors. ‘This is important to make sure the drugs cannot be used for suicide, abuse or murder,’ the organisation said. 

The ministers’ plan will require new legislation, separate from the current euthanasia legislation, which will outline the system of checks and balances to ensure there is no abuse.

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Kryon Q&A

Question (2003): I've been wondering about this for a while now. Do we decide how and when we're going to die before we come into the world? Is that why some people live a long and healthy life, while others die from an illness or accident at an early age? Does it have anything to do with our past lives?

Answer: Human death is not seen on this side of the veil as anything but a transition of energy and a freshening of expression. This is difficult for you to understand, for to you, death is pain, suffering, and grief. Can you even begin to understand why this is the setup? We see it as part of the "play of Earth." In any play, even the Human with the knife in his chest gets up after the curtain comes down and has a party with the cast. The cast members all know that the adventure in the play is not real. But in the play of Earth, your reality says that life is everything there is. Therefore, it's played "for keeps." It has to be this way, to make the challenge and the test... fair.

Yes, you all have a beginning setup contract where your shift (death) is planned. Sometimes it's to facilitate another person (such as the profound energy created through the death of a child or suicide). So it can be part of an agreement with great energy around it, or a simple potential to leave when it's time. Each case is different, and yes, it is often tempered with a balance from past-life experience. It's also entirely temporary and waiting to be rewritten!

All this is changing greatly. With the new energy brings a change in the system of life and death on Earth. Indigo Children are coming into the planet without past-life karmic attributes. They're "clean" of this karma, and also have a very different setup. They still have a potential life line, and they carry information about past-life experience and the wisdom of what they learned, but they're also aware that they can create a change in that beginning contract. This is the biggest difference between the old- and new-energy Human. The old-energy Human somehow feels that the contract is absolute, that nothing can change it. He actually tries to follow this beginning temporary setup to its destination! This is information that has to be unlearned for most of you. The child? He knows better. He can do anything! Did you notice his attitude? He comes in ready to create and manifest. He's frustrated that you don't see the potentials, or that you wallow in some linear system, or that you try to follow an old setup. Did you notice? This is all part of the new Human-life scenario.

Whereas the plan of old created life and death as a cycle in a karmic engine of lesson - creating energy to help the earth - that is now void. The new system is one that encourages a contract rewrite, including death time, age, and even life lesson. It's a startling change, and brings new meaning to death in the new energy.

Also, there's this fact: We told you in 1989 that a great number of Humans might have to pass quickly in these times for the new energy to manifest. You're seeing it now. With war and disease, the numbers are quickly being fulfilled. What does this mean? It means that many actually had the agreement to pass at this time if the earth had accomplished a vibratory rate shift. It did, and the process began.

What is the reason for this? Although you might fee that it's too sorrowful to think about, we give you the truth: The new Indigo color of Human Being will do far better on the planet than one with a very old energy. Therefore, many are leaving early to immediately come back as Humans with the Indigo color. This will facilitate peace on Earth faster than anything else.

 "Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"... The Ethics of Life

You, as a Human Being, are designed to appreciate and love life. But you put it in a box. You think you live once. You say, life is precious; make it count; keep it going at all costs; make it work. And the underlying thought is that because you only go around one time, all the purpose is wrapped up in one lifetime. Well, I'm going to give you something to think about, something that happened just recently that tens of millions of people all over earth who have the western news media know of.

It was all about one woman's life, and you know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about Terri [Terri Schiavo]. And I'm going to talk about Terri because, you know, she's here [speaking of the real Terri]! And I'm going to give you a perspective about Terri that perhaps you hadn't thought about before, and as I do it, she's going to watch.

It's very metaphysical, you know? This perspective is one from my side of the veil. Terri leaned into the wind of birth many years ago, just as you did. I was there, too. There were potentials laying in front of her - a track that she could take if she wished. There was no predestination, only predispositions of energy that laid before her: the parents she would have (which she had selected), the man she might meet or marry, the accident waiting to happen. All of these things were in her "potential track," and she could have chosen not to go there.

But like so many of you, she looked at it and examined it. These were the times we spoke to her and said, "Dear one, you're going into another Human lifetime that has a potential that's awesome - grander than most Humans on the planet will ever experience. You'll get to present something to tens of millions of people. You'll make them think about life. You'll change the legal system of your country. You'll awaken peoples' awareness to situations that need to be addressed with respect to morality, integrity, and even intuition. Will you do it?"

And I remember what she said. The grand angel who stood before me, who you now call Terri, smiled broadly and said, "I'm ready for that." And some of you cry in your sorrow and say "Why is this Human dead? How could such a thing be tolerated? Why would such a thing happen? Life is so precious." And I ask you this, as Terri looks on in her joy, would you take this away from her? Would you take that away from humanity, what she showed and did that resulted directly in her passing?

Start thinking of these things, perhaps differently. We've told you before that there are even those Human Beings who come in with a predisposition of suicide! What a horrible thought, you might say. "Kryon, could that even be appropriate?" And we say this: More than appropriate, it's by design! "But why should that be?" You might say. "What a horrible dishonorable death." And if that's your reaction, you're placing the whole grand picture in your own little Human box.

When you start examining it spiritually, without Human bias, you start to see that around a suicide there's this energy that develops. It's all about the family. Is there shame? Is there drama? Does it kick the family in the pants so that perhaps they might study things they never did - or perhaps they might they even look within themselves for spirituality? Blessed is the one that comes in with these tasks [like suicide]. There are so many of them who do. For these are the grease of personal change within families, and provide a gift that is grand!

You see, Spirit looks at these things differently. The curtain goes up, it goes down. You come and you go and there are profound lessons, some of which are taught harshly, by those who teach them through their own deaths.

"Well, what is it Kryon? Don't dodge the question with a diversion to suicide, for this isn't what Terri did. Is it proper or is it improper to have somebody in this vegetative state put to death by others around her?" Our answer: Exactly which Human are you talking about? You want a blanket answer, don't you? For six and half billion souls and paths, you want one answer for all. Well, you won't get one. For Terri, the answer is a solid yes. It was as it should have been. She came in with this grand opportunity to change the world, and she did it while everyone watched.

There is appropriateness in all things and sometimes you create for yourselves what seems to be inappropriate. Yet later you understand what the gift was within the challenge. Celebrate Terri, and don't think of this as a shameful thing that Humans did to her. Think of it instead as a book that was written for you to look at, one which pushes you to a place to ask, "What should we do about this now, personally? What should our legislatures do about this, if anything? How can we approach these things more humanely and with more honor? Is our culture addressing this issue? Are we addressing this issue personally?" Let's put these questions where they belong. It's not about "right to life"; it's about the appropriateness of "this life." Each case is individual, and some are profoundly given for the planet and for those around the individual.

Oh, as all of you came into this planet and leaned into the wind of birth separately, each was unique. Each of you has a different story, a different goal, but all have the same purpose: the elevation of the vibration of the planet. Sometimes it happens to many of you at the same time. We'll get to that before we finish. ..."

"Common Questions from Non-Lightworkers" - Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"... Question Two: What happens when you die?

This is so complicated, but I'm going to divide it into two parts, both spiritual. The death of a Human, which all of you in the room have experienced, is not the end. This is intuitive within you, because you've gone through it before. But the truth of it hides just under the surface. You're not really quite sure what will happen to you, but your intuition tells you it's not the end.

There is no sting in death. Not for you. But for the ones around you, there is. So the first thing I want to tell you about death is that those around you often suffer. Sometimes that is appropriate, for it brings them to their knees, especially when you leave too soon. Sometimes, because of that, they will discover what is inside of them, incredible spiritual solace, and then realize that your death was the catalyst for their enlightenment. Do you understand that process? Sometimes you are partners in this, with agreements in advance for potentials to help each other even through Human death. So it's not something to mourn at all. Often, it's the completion of a beautiful arrangement.

What happens when you die physically? That's easy - you return to the dust of the planet. What more do you want to know? Corporeal? Easy. That's just part of the Gaia process. But let me tell you about the moment of transition. You lose three ounces of something that no one knows about. The three ounces is quantum information. It's the quantum part of your spiritual core, everything that ever was of you, and it doesn't go up, it goes down. It goes back to the Cave of Creation and beyond.

We've told you this before. Part of it also goes to the Crystalline Grid. Some of it even goes to the cetaceans of the earth. There is a system here that allows Gaia to remember your life, and it's stored in the planet. Your spirit comes home, but not your Akashic Record. It stays on the planet because the planet owns it. You have changed the planet by what you've done, but you don't bring it home with you. When you come home, however, we have a party. I've told you that before. Oh, dear one, there's no sting in death. Not your own. You will know it right away, within three days. By then, you are "fully aware" that you're a piece of God. You remember. You hear the music again.

Then soon, you come back here (Earth), and when you do, it's sometimes faster than you've been told, for things are speeding up. Sometimes you come back born into your own family as grandchildren within your same karmic group. That's a process of the Lightworker so that your grandparents can teach you things that only they can teach you.

And when you take your first breath, you pick up something. You pick up all of the soul energy from the Cave of Creation and the Crystalline Grid that you stored there when you left. That is called Akashic inheritance. Artists become artists. Policemen become policemen. It's in your genes. It's in your DNA, who you used to be. Even the proclivities for the things you like and don't like - like food, choices - come in with you from the past Akashic inheritance.

Sometimes the question is asked, "Should I be a vegetarian? What is correct for my body spiritually?" I will tell you what is correct for your body spiritually - the thing that makes sense to you! If you've spent lifetimes in Tibet or India, you're probably craving different foods than that which is in the United States. That's how it works, dear ones. Your body reacts to what it remembers, and if that serves you by not eating meat, then that is what you should do for your health. Do not project it onto your friends, for they have their own Akashic health remembrance. They have their own system that works for them.

Humans love to compartmentalize everything and, therefore, when someone finds something good for them, they wish everybody to do it. Do not criticize others because they don't have your unique remembrance. This also applies to the belief systems of others. The ones who have found God or have found joy in a system that works for them is because they are tuned to it. Perhaps they were the very disciples of the masters! They're tuned to it and they want for everyone what works for them. Much of it has integrity, but it may not be for you.

What happens at death? It's a system - beauty, honor, and you become the piece of God that you know you are. When Elijah ascended, you got to see it through the eyes of Elisha. Elijah turned into a light so bright that Elisha couldn't even look at it. Then it split into parts. Elisha saw the Merkabah, the field around the Human, the chariot that Elijah rode in. He saw it and reported it. What do you think it was? The Human got to see ascension. That's death.

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)