Latest euthanasia statistics from the Netherlands

Every five years Statistics Netherlands publishes data on deaths by “medical end-of-life decision”.

The latest data reports on all deaths in the Netherlands in 2015.[1]

In that year there were 7254 deaths caused intentionally by lethal medication – 6672 deaths by euthanasia with a request; 431 deaths by euthanasia with no explicit request; and 150 deaths by assisted suicide.

This represents nearly 1 in 20 (4.93%) of all deaths in the Netherlands.

More than 1 in 10 (10.5%) of all deaths (other than sudden and expected deaths) of 17-65 year olds in the Netherlands are caused intentionally by euthanasia or assisted suicide.

More than 1 in 200 (0.52%) of all deaths (other than sudden and expected deaths) of 17-65 year olds in the Netherlands are caused intentionally by euthanasia without an explicit request from the person being killed.

There is a significant discrepancy (1306) between the number of cases of euthanasia with request and assisted suicide reported by Statistics Netherlands – 6822 – and the number of such cases reported (as required by law) to the Euthanasia Review Committees – 5516.[2]  This suggests that in nearly 1 in 5 (19.1%) cases where a doctor administers euthanasia with a request or prescribes lethal medication for assisted suicide there is a failure to comply with the law requiring such acts to be reported.

If the additional 431 cases of euthanasia with no explicit request are included then nearly 1 in 4 (23.96%) of cases of explicit killing by euthanasia or assisted suicide are nor reported.

It is extraordinary that Andrew Denton can keep a straight face when he claims that the Netherlands is a model of transparency in euthanasia practice that can be confidently taken as evidence that legalising euthanasia or assisted suicide can be done safely – but I guess he is a comedian by profession.

I found nothing ‘slippery’ or underhanded about what they were doing. The systems in Belgium and the Netherlands are based on full and transparent disclosure – where every case is reported and reviewed by peer committees, aligned with the coroner’s office, and with the power to report doctors to state prosecutors for any breaches.[3]

Legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide empowers doctors to kill their patients. In 2015 in the Netherlands some 431 patients were killed by doctors who clearly felt empowered to do so despite there being no explicit request from the patient and no legal basis for their deadly action.

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[1] Statistics Netherlands, Deaths by medical end-of-life decision; age, cause of death, 24 May 2017, http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/publication/?VW=T&DM=SLEN&PA=81655ENG&LA=EN

[2] Regional Euthanasia Review Committees, Annual Report 2015, p. 16, https://english.euthanasiecommissie.nl/binaries/euthanasiecommissie-en/documents/publications/annual-reports/2002/annual-reports/annual-reports/Jaarverslag2015ENG.pdf

[3] https://www.wheelercentre.com/notes/an-argument-for-assisted-dying-in-australia-andrew-denton-s-di-gribble-argument-in-full

Nitschke now promoting illegal drug exports

Exit International, the international suicide cult established and run by former medical practitioner Phillip Nitschke, is now promoting recourse to Energy Control, which operates a drug testing laboratory in Spain, for quantitative testing of the lethal drug Nembutal (sodium pentobarbital).

Energy Control is a Spanish organisation promoting a harm reduction approach to recreational drug use. It offers an international drug testing service for substances including cocaine, heroin and ice. Its philosophy is supposedly to support the responsible use of drugs such as these.

http://energycontrol-international.org/what-is-energy-control/

The drug testing service costs 60 euros per sample or 80 euros to receive full documentation of the tests. After making the payment a confirmation code is received.

The instructions for submitting samples for testing are as follows:

Put each sample with its “code to send sample” in an envelope and send to this address:

Energy Control

C/ Independència 384, bajos

08041-Barcelona (SPAIN)

You can send several samples together in the same envelope, just make sure each of them is correctly labeled with its own code, so we can identify them when they arrive.

40-50 mg is enough, except for pills and blotters which should be a whole one. It’s recommended to send the samples in a folded paper or zip bag rather than in a capsule. The tablets, blotters and microdots should be wrapped to prevent rupture and spillage.

  http://energycontrol-international.org/drug-testing-service/submitting-a-sample/

By entering into the business of testing a lethal drug precisely for its purity and effectiveness in causing death, Energy Control is moving out of its alleged business of “harm reduction” and into the business of ensuring the ultimate harm of death. Energy Control of course has no means of knowing whether a lethal dose of sodium pentobarbital which has been sample tested at its laboratory will be used to commit suicide, perhaps by a depressed teenager, or indeed for the murder of an elderly relative or a relative with dementia.

The export of any amount of a prohibited substance such as sodium pentobarbital without the relevant license is an offence under Section8 of the Export Control Act 1982 which is “punishable on conviction by imprisonment for a period not exceeding 5 years.”

By encouraging his cult followers now not only to illegally and criminally import the death drug sodium pentobarbital but also to illegally and criminally export it at the risk of 5 years imprisonment, death cult leader Nitschke is once again demonstrating his cavalier recklessness for the wellbeing of his followers.

He needs to be stopped before the corpses of his followers pile any higher.