Bishops critical of `mercy killing'

Dutch Catholic Bishops have said they are gravely disappointed euthanasia has been legalised in the Netherlands.

In a statement they said from 1985, the beginning of the discussion on euthanasia in the Netherlands, they had said the legislation now adopted was neither permissible nor necessary.

They insisted that palliative care could offer a solution to cases of suffering among terminally ill patients, and warned against the social consequences of the new legislation.

They expressed great fear that as a consequence of this legislation, euthanasia would increasingly be seen as normal.

Respect for human life would deteriorate further; doctors would come under increasing social pressure to co-operate in euthanasia and assisted suicide; confidence in the medical profession would be undermined; a climate could arise whereby the terminally ill would feel obliged to spare others the burden of care, and it could also mean people would feel the need to justify a decision against euthanasia or assisted suicide, they said.

They called for the abandonment of the legislation and the creation of a climate that promoted an increasing awareness of the meaning of self-determination in matters of life and death within the context of the respect and protection that people owe one another.

This involved an attitude which made room for decline and dependency in human life, they said.