BHHRG

The proposed new law has been introduced into the lower house of the Dutch parliament by the Minister of Justice, Bank Korthals, and the Minister of Health, Dr. Els Borst. A provision is to be included in the Netherlands Criminal Code which would provide for the termination of life on request and assistance with suicide would not be punishable if certain criteria were fulfilled. The bill is a consequence of the coalition accord which led to the present coalition government, involving the Labour party and two Liberal parties.
The two conditions under which a physician will not be subject to prosecution are:
The physician must have fulfilled the requirements on due care, as laid down in a separate act, namely the Termination of Life and Request and Assistance with Suicide (Review) Act.
The physician must notify his or her actions to the municipal coroner in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Burial and Cremation Act.
Under circumstances other than these, euthanasia and assisted suicide would continue to be "illegal" under Dutch law, although the culture of illegality is now so great that it is difficult to know quite what deterrent effect this could have. Where assisted suicide is concerned, for instance, organizations exist openly in the Netherlands to help people to commit suicide. They are allowed to counsel people who want to end their lives and they distribute literature with step-by-step guides to how to kill yourself. These actions are illegal under Dutch law - not least because the suicide counselors are not doctors - and yet the police have never brought any prosecutions for them.
The new statutory rules will not make any substantial changes to the grounds on which life may be terminated on request or on which assisted suicide is permitted. Instead, the main change is to modify the role of the five regional review committees which examine whether a case of euthanasia has followed the criteria. Henceforth, if the committee considers that due care has been observed, the case will be closed. Only where this is not so will there be a referral to the Prosecution Service. The Prosecution Service retains the power; however, to instigate investigations of its own when it suspects that an act of euthanasia has not fulfilled the criteria.
In keeping with a recommendation of the Council of State, made in respect of a previous version of the bill, the new law will include a provision for the request by minors for termination of life and assistance with suicide. The provision in question is based on the existing rules for medical treatment for minors. This means that 16 and 17 year olds can decide independently over their own lives. In the case of children between 12 and 16, the consent of the parents is required. But in the event of a refusal by one or both parents, a minor’s request may nevertheless be met if the physician is convinced that this would prevent serious harm to the patient.
The main function of the law, in other words, is to effect an institutional change to the legal fabric of the Netherlands. The new law will formally take life and death decisions out of the hands of the law and to place it in the hands of "experts", even though pro-euthanasia campaigners are right to say that it does formally de-criminalize euthanasia. This has significant implications for the rule of law in the Netherlands. It means that the medical profession will (in the words of one lifelong abortionist and euthanasia practitioner) "lift the sword of Damocles from above doctors’ heads". Indeed it will, but by what right should some of the most important questions of society be hived off from the responsibility of the law and the prosecution authorities and given to a privileged group?
As has been already stated, a culture of illegality has grown up in the Netherlands on these questions. It is not clear how the rights of people to whom euthanasia may have been administered by mistake, or against their explicit request, will be strengthened by this new law.