Posted on 03/12/2005 4:26:04 PM PST by nickcarraway
Euthanizing terminally ill newborns, while still very rare, is more common in the Netherlands than was believed when the startling practice was reported a few months ago -- and experts say it also occurs, quietly, in other countries.
Dutch doctors estimate that at least five newborn mercy killings occur for every one reported in that country, which has allowed euthanasia for competent adults since 1985.
In 2002, doctors at University Medical Center Groningen helped create the so-called Groningen protocol, a list of standards for performing and reporting euthanasia of newborns with serious, incurable deformities. The aim was to encourage more reporting and discussion.
Two pediatricians at the hospital, Drs. Pieter J.J. Sauer and Eduard Verhagen, report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine that 22 mercy killings of newborns who otherwise would have lingered in intensive care for years were reported to authorities from 1997 to 2004, about three each year.
But national surveys of Dutch doctors have found 15 to 20 such cases a year, out of about 200,000 births.
Verhagen, who supports such euthanasia, said in an interview the doctors were allowed to review district attorneys' records on the 22 reported cases. None was prosecuted.
Rita Marker, executive director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, which opposes both, said newborn euthanasia happens "under the radar" in the United States, but there's no way to quantify it.
According to official data, 1 out of three "terminal" patients in Switzerland are now euthanised. I wonder how underreported this is ...
Even from 10,000 miles away I can smell the brimstone.
Nazi's alive and well in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands is the slippery slope.
We're saved from the little malingerers.
I'm betting it's not underreported by more than three to one. ;-)
When Terri Schiavo is killed, slowly and painfully, the process will have begun in earnest here. Next step: "Yeah, that was too painful for the poor vegetable. Next time, the needle." And after that, babies? Probably.
If this judge and husband that are so intent on killing terry get their way, I hope the family (as painfull as it may be) film the death of this yound woman. and then televise it to SHOW people what mosnsters this Judge,Husband and euthanasia advocates really are.
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.