Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy
You're joking in you're own country they allow people feeling depressed to be put down, if that's not an abuse I don't know what is.
Bosscher wanted to die. She refused treatment for her depression, claiming that her mental suffering was such that nothing would help. Dr. Boudewijn Chabot was acquitted of assisted suicide because the patient was rational and had not been diagnosed with any psychiatric illness. Thereafter, the Dutch guidelines included information advocating that physicians be allowed to assist depressed people to commit suicide.
http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/57...THERLANDS.html |
To be honest, I'm not familiar with the details of that (relatively old) case, though I would agree that assisted suicide on the basis of mental suffering is contentious. However, reading Dutch media on a regular (daily) basis, I don't recall any high profile dubious cases being reported in the last 10 years. On that basis, I would say that abuse is not rife. Furthermore, I have no reason to believe there have been any cases where the system has been abused for monetary reasons, as was suggested by another poster.
On that basis, I see no reason why it couldn't be implemented in the UK, at least where physical suffering is involved. The (non-representative) poll here suggests that many people agree it should be allowed.