Posted on 07/15/2005 12:01:21 PM PDT by Rutles4Ever
Dutch paediatricians have voted unanimously to adopt as national guidelines the so called Groningen protocol that covers the mercy killing of newborn babies who are incurably sick and are suffering severely. The Dutch Paediatric Society accepted that "in exceptional circumstances and under strict conditions... deliberate ending of life" of such newborns "can be an acceptable option."
The protocol gives exact details of the requirements doctors must follow and includes the mandatory reporting of all cases. The local protocol drawn up at Groningen University Hospital last autumn caused an international outcry. Its clinical director of paediatrics, Eduard Verhagen, told the BMJ at the time, "It is time to be honest; all over the world doctors end lives discreetly, out of compassion" ( BMJ 2005;330: 560[Free Full Text]).
The protocol, which the Groningen doctors agreed with the public prosecution service, enables doctors to report their actions without being prosecuted.
Its requirements include a clear diagnosis and prognosis; that the newborn baby must be suffering hopelessly and unbearably with no prospect for future treatment; that both parents must give their informed consent; that the decision must be confirmed by a second independent doctor; and that the death and treatment must be reported to the local coroner.
After the recent decision, Dr Verhagen, who chairs the society's ethics and law committee, said, "The society has agreed a clear and uniform approach to the decisions regarding deliberate life ending procedures in sick newborns." The "confirmation of the acceptability" of this practice was an important step for parents and doctors.
It "underlines accountability," Dr Verhagen said. "Dutch paediatricians have indicated their choice for a control mechanism based on self reporting and public review. They fully realise they themselves are the ones who need to report."
The society now stresses the urgent need for a system of reporting, in the first instance to a national committee of doctors, lawyers, and ethicists rather than to the public prosecutor. Such a system already exists under the euthanasia law but the system excludes newborns as a request for euthanasia from the patient is required.
It believes that a system of reporting to a national committee rather than to the public prosecutor would encourage doctors to report their actions and thus ensure legal and societal control. It estimates that currently 15 cases occur each year in the Netherlands and that on average only three are reported. The cases are thought to be babies born with severe spina bifida, involving brain damage, and babies who suffer severe hypoxia at birth.
The society points out that last year the government promised proposals to improve the reporting of life ending decisions for newborns, while calling on the medical profession to take initiatives too. "That is what the society has now done. The ball is now with the politicians," said Dr Verhagen.
Dutch opposition Labour MP and former health academic Godelieve van Heteren has now asked justice minister Piet Hein Donner in parliament if he supports the protocol. A health ministry spokeswoman said that she expects proposals for a national assessment committee to be drawn up by the Ministry of Justice after the summer.
well said
Killing a child because it's an inconvenience........that's murder in my book but I have no experience, from a parents prospective, on this issue.
I dunno... Some mercy killings are necessary.
Like if the newborn had two heads and a spine formed outside the body; who's life expectancy was measures in hours.
I thinks that would be a permissable mercy killing, if the parents agreed.
But these rules are too vague. To say that the infant must be suffering with no future treatment leaves the definition of suffering up to the doctors.
What if they judge that blindness or mental retardation is 'suffering'?
A blanket ban is not the answer, but neither is this.
Moral Absolutes Ping.
So the main difference is that now doctors can kill babies (after birth) with legality and protocol, instead of behind closed doors, so to speak.
Kind of like under cover of darkness pogroms versus the legalized and regulated killing of Jews in camps.
Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.
Note: The profession of "doctor" seems to be merging with the trade of "executioner".
At what point do they stop being newborns? 1 month, 12 months, 3 years, 15 years, 18 years? If you are "born again" are you fair game?
Excellent points. My cousin gave birth to a child with his liver on the outside, he had many operations and is now 20 something and lives a full life. Would the Dutch doctors have called him untreatable?
Well remember that most of Holland was still occupied by the Germany Army AFTER Hitlter shot himself. They got the whole five years of Nazi influence.
I am guessing that the oath most MD's take to "cause no further harm" doesn't apply here. What a disgusting country and what a disgusting group of people!
Why would mercy killing be necessary if the child has terminal deformities? He or She will die anyway. In the meantime, measures used to treat them might provide a learning experience for the medical staff....certainly a better experience than just giving a lethal dose of painkillers.
In the aftermath of the Natalee Holloway tragedy, the Arubans (governed by Dutch law) whose 100,000 population is crammed into a space smaller than Manhattan, love to say their tiny island has had only one murder so far this year and that crime is rare.
Snort----crime is rare b/c nothing is a crime according to the notoriously ultra-liberal Dutch. In the Netherlands, life is cheap. Prostitution is considered no big deal as is their penchant for euthanasia on demand, pedophilia, and now infanticide.
The violent and sex-saturated Grand Theft Auto video game aimed at kids who have bought it in huge numbers, was also produced in Holland.
Aruba is also notorious as a stopping-off point for drug cartels. The fact that 17-year old Joran vander Sloot was prowling casinos and bars, targeting young tourists---perhaps armed with date rape drugs to assure a score---is also indicative of liberal Dutch permissiveness.
Natalee Holloway's parents sent her to a place under the erroneous impression that values they prized predominated on Aruba.
How wrong they were.
What with its liberal Rube Goldberg justice system, a population with apparently no compunction about lying straight into the TV cameras, Aruba is the personification of Liberal Lies and Deceit Unlimited.
Not only are the doctors wrong, but things like spina bifida and cleft palate are now legitimate reasons for abortion because of the 'trauma' to the mother. Not even trauma to the child who has the issue. And cleft palate is generally fully treatable with surgery. Are collicky babies next on the list of 'mercy' killings?
What happened to the Hypocratic oath--"First, do no harm"?
I guess we can amend that--"Do harm, and inflict death,
when permitted by both parents. . . "
And spina bifida is treatable - the opening can be closed; brain damage cause suffering primarily to the parents.
Mrs VS
Sounds like Nazi Germany before it started exterminating Jews.
I thinks that would be a permissable mercy killing, if the parents agreed.
I disagree.
A couple years ago, I saw a TV program about these two little girls who basically shared the same body from the waist down. They walked, talked, went to school, swam,etc. Why would you be OK with the doctor killing them.
Spine outside the body, is basically spina bifida. I could never agree that this should be a resaon to kill the children. Often they are born with spinal fluid backing up to the head, but a shunt can be inserted to prevent brain damage.
What's to stop the state from mandating these killings at the diagnosis of certain disorders? The imagination quickly abounds with the potential abuses (beyond the original murder, I guess).
In other words, the Dutch are okay with offing babies whose ailments are too expensive to treat in the eyes of the state.
Yes, it is euthanasia.
I always get a chuckle when I hear about the Dutch and their Islamic problems. I can't think of two people more deserving of each other.
Holland is right next to Germany. Amazing that they failed to learn anything from Hitler and the Nazi's.
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