According to the latest report published by the Dutch Ministry of Health, many people live in the country who, despite good health, are thinking of committing assisted suicide. About 10,000 Dutch after 55 years of age “consistently and actively” strive for death. One of the options for “help” for this group is to be to expand access to euthanasia.

The latest report on assisted suicide has been divided in a government coalition. Liberal environments forming the government demand the possibility of legalizing euthanasia also for healthy people who for various reasons will want to give up their lives. Health Minister Hugo de Jonge doesn’t like this idea, and thinks that instead of prescribing “deadly pills,” it is better to try to “bring back citizens to enjoy life.”

The leftist party D66 is pushing for the legalization of euthanasia for healthy people. In the coming days, Pia Dijkstra is to propose new legal solutions that will allow premature “completion of life” by healthy people who are at least 75 years old. “There is broad support for people who demand a dignified end to their lives,” she wrote on Twitter.

Christian Democrats MP Carla Dik-Faber said her party is strongly opposed to the proposed regulations. She emphasized that it would be cynical to share the deadly pill with adults.

“We would give them up instead of wanting to be with them, (…) Older people may feel unnecessary in a society that doesn’t value aging. It is true that there are people who feel lonely and others may suffer, but the government and society should take responsibility, “explained Dik-Faber.

Assisted suicide has been legal in the Netherlands since 2002. Typically, physicians provide sedatives intravenously, followed by respiratory suppressants. In 2002, 1882 cases of assisted suicide were reported. Five years later, the conditions under which assisted suicide was permitted were extended, leading to more than 7,000 people being killed as a result of euthanasia. That’s about twenty people a day.

Source: pch24.pl