But in practice, it offers little actual protection. This also proves true during the second opinion consultation, which is cursory and perfunctory. When the consultant asks the pro forma question if Cees is sure he wants to go ahead, Antoinette answers for him. The consultant seems uncomfortable, asks a few more questions, and leaves. The consultation takes practically no time at all.
Dutch euthanasia is a human-rights disaster.
Not only does the practice devalue the lives of the most defenseless people, but once killing became an acceptable answer to one problem, it soon became a solution to one hundred. Indeed, in their nearly 30 years of euthanasia practice, Dutch doctors have gone from killing terminally ill patients who ask for it, to chronically ill patients who ask for it, to disabled patients who ask for it, to depressed patients who ask for it, to babies who cannot by definition ask for it, to thousands of patients without request or consent. And as an additional plum to depravity, teenagers beginning at the age of 16 will be able to receive euthanasia without parental consent. We ignore the lessons of the Netherlands at our own peril.