Volume 1

Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill (HL) / Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill.
Date:
2005
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    Commenting on the statements, Dr Jonquiere of NVVE said that “we try to help our members to formulate what in their view is unbearable. The identification of what is unbearable is for the patient. They are the person who says ‘This suffering, for me, is unbearable’. This helps them to formulate what is unbearable. But ‘unbearable’ alone is not sufficient to come to the conclusion that euthanasia is the solution. There you need medical expertise in terms of the hopelessness of the suffering. It is those two people—the doctor and the patient—who come together, to compare and discuss, deal and wheel—whatever you may call it—about the unbearability and hopelessness” (Q 1557). Dr Jonquiere made clear to us that the presence of such a statement does not mean that euthanasia will follow automatically if any of the specified conditions should develop; it is simply a request, and the physician must satisfy himself that there is “unbearable suffering” also (Q 1566). Asked about what might happen in the event of a signatory becoming unconscious as well as having reached one of the specified conditions, he replied that, “when a patient is unconscious, it is something which in practice is presently considered not to be compatible with suffering, and so not a reason for euthanasia” (Q 1558). Finally, we sought to form a view of how legalised euthanasia is regarded by Dutch doctors and Dutch society as a whole. Ms Keizer of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport said that “we have asked doctors what they think about the law and whether they think that it is an improvement. They think that the procedure improved after the law came into force. The review committees are working fast and are giving clear judgements. Doctors also expect that there will be more transparency and that the willingness to report will improve” (Q 1396). Dr Legemaate, for the KNMG, told us that, “a large part of the medical profession finds it acceptable that there is, in our society, the possibility of euthanasia. 20% to 25%... are opposed, mostly for religious reasons and also on some non-religious reasons—for instance that it is not compatible with their medical oath or the medical profession” (Q 1237). For society as a whole, according to Dr Legemaate, “there has been a kind of increasing acceptance of doing euthanasia, which I think incorporates a certain change of opinion about the moral aspects and how you balance that” (Q 1250). And Dr Onwuteaka-Philipsen told us that opinion polls suggested that “92% think that it is good that a doctor will no longer be prosecuted for euthanasia, if all the requirements are met. 91% think there should be control on euthanasia” (Q 1659). On the other hand, Dr van den Muijsenburgh reported that in research which she herself had carried out, while doctors were willing and capable of administering intense and very personal palliative care that met the needs of their patients, there was a considerable variation among physicians in regard to the incidence of euthanasia. While most doctors, she said, were supportive of their patients, “there were... doctors who were very willing to commit euthanasia—doctors who themselves thought ‘Suffering is useless-—and more than half of their patients die by euthanasia” (Q 1537). And Dr Zylicz cautioned against acceptance at face value of opinion polls which suggested that there was a high level of public support for euthanasia. The result, he felt, depended on the question which was asked (Q 1502). Dr Zylicz agreed, however, with the statement that there had been no slippery slope and that some patients, whose physical symptoms appeared in the eyes of their doctors to be properly controlled, persisted with requests for euthanasia (Q 1508).
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