Dutch Reporters Miss Stories on “Do Not Euthanize Me” Cards

First Things ^ | 2/22/12 | Wesley J. Smith

[marshmallow]

I have received some comment from correspondents claiming to be Dutch and reporters, contesting my article yesterday that describes some of the Dutch euthanasia horrors. They don’t claim I am wrong that about 1% of Dutch deaths are “termination without request or consent,” e.g. non voluntary euthanasia. They don’t deny that Dutch doctors commit infanticide. They don’t deny that the country is moving toward euthanizing the elderly who are “tired of life.” No, they contest that some people carry cards in their wallets saying that they don’t want to be euthanized if they become incompetent or are brought to a hospital in an emergency.

But they do. Here are some examples. From the BBC:

As the habit of killing catches on, the voluntary element is lost. Patients in Holland are having to carry cards saying: “Please, doctor, DON’T kill me.”

From Psychology Today:

Back in the Netherlands, there are some old people who carry cards that say, “Please, Doctor, DON’T Kill Me!”

[bgill]

Like that’s gonna fly with ObamaCare’s death panels.

[cripplecreek]

[Lee N. Field]

moving toward euthanizing the elderly who are “tired of life.”

"Tired of life"? I'm 56, and sometimes I'm tired of life in this age, and long for the age to come.

I guess I need to be careful where I say it.

[GeronL]

It won’t matter what the card says.

They will just decide that you would have wanted to be offed if you were conscious or in your proper faculties and do it anyway

[DuncanWaring]

That’s not the kind of thing you put on a card in your wallet; it’s something you have tattooed on your shoulder.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

****.about 1% of Dutch deaths are “termination without request or consent,” e.g. non voluntary euthanasia.***

Years ago I read that elderly people feared the physicians in Holland because some of them were determining that the patient had no “quality of life” left and euthanizing them without their permission.