Netherlands Euthanizes 29-Y-O Mentally Ill Woman

The Netherlands has euthanized a 29-year-old woman who was not diagnosed with a physical disease but was suffering psychologically, an example of the growing allowances for what is being called "dignified death."

The Dutch woman, Aurelia Brouwers, died by physician assisted suicide last Friday. Dutch media reports indicate that she chose death, arguing that she had a right to a "dignified death" after living with severe psychological issues since her childhood.

"I think that after such a rotten life I am entitled to a dignified death," Brouwers told Dutch media outlet RTL. "[P]eople who have a serious illness get a chance for a worthy ending, so why is it so difficult for people who are psychologically out?"

"Every second is torture, I'm so trapped in my head, those demons are not going away, I've been so devoured by my psychiatric illnesses that I'm completely broken, and I fought against that," she said.

Approximately 9 percent of requests for euthanasia because of psychological suffering are reportedly honored in the Netherlands and it is also rare for the government to approve it for people younger than 30 but such cases are indeed happening.

I recall years ago reading about Dr Kervorkian doing one of his “procedures” on a married, obese, depressed woman. This, of course, was here in the U.S. She claimed her life was miserable because of her weight condition and the attendant depression. No other pathologies were listed. The article stated that her husband was also tired of dealing with her problems. We will be moving in this direction here soon.

It is often said that the phrase “First do no harm” (Latin: Primum non nocere) is a part of the Hippocratic oath. The phrase as such does not appear in the oath. There are other parts of the oath that many Doctors do not heed.

The Hippocratic oath:
I swear by Apollo the Healer, by Asclepius, by Hygieia, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.

To hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture; to impart precept, oral instruction, and all other instruction to my own sons, the sons of my teacher, and to indentured pupils who have taken the physician’s oath, but to nobody else.

I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. But I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.

Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free. And whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my profession, as well as outside my profession in my intercourse with men, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.
Now if I carry out this oath, and break it not, may I gain for ever reputation among all men for my life and for my art; but if I break it and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.

This is the criteria for assisted suicide in Canada:

241.2 (1) A person may receive medical assistance in dying only if they meet all of the following criteria:
(a) they are eligible — or, but for any applicable minimum period of residence or waiting period, would be
eligible — for health services funded by a government in Canada;
(b) they are at least 18 years of age and capable of making decisions with respect to their health;
(c) they have a grievous and irremediable medical condition;
(d) they have made a voluntary request for medical assistance in dying that, in particular, was not made as a result of external pressure; and
(e) they give informed consent to receive medical assistance in dying after having been informed of the means that are available to relieve their suffering, including palliative care.
(2) A person has a grievous and irremediable medical condition only if they meet all of the following criteria:
(a) they have a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability;
(b) they are in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability;
(c) that illness, disease or disability or that state of decline causes them enduring physical or psychological
suffering that is intolerable to them and that cannot be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable;
and
(d) their natural death has become reasonably foreseeable, taking into account all of their medical circumstances, without a prognosis necessarily having been made as to the specific length of time that they have remaining.

Last I heard they were also considering “mature teens”.
No matter what you call it; it’s murder.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.