MedicalConspiracies- Death on wheels: Dutch to send mobile clinics to euthanize people in their own homes

Death on wheels: Dutch to send mobile clinics to euthanize people in their own homes
By Simon Caldwell
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2070662/Mobile-euthanasia-teams-planned-Holland.html

Last updated at 9:02 AM on 7th December 2011
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Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers revealed the proposals during a debate
on euthanasia in the Dutch parliament
The Dutch government is considering plans to use mobile medical teams which
would administer euthanasia to people in their homes.
The units, dubbed 'grim reapers on wheels' by critics, will be called in to
kill patients when their own GPs refuse to administer lethal drugs.
The mobile teams of doctors and nurses would be sent out from a clinic
following a referral from the patients doctor.
The proposals were revealed by Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers during
a debate on euthanasia in the Dutch parliament.
In answer to questions from Christian Union MPs she said that mobile units
'for patients who meet the criteria for euthanasia but whose doctors are
unwilling to carry it out' was worthy of consideration.
'If the patient thinks it desirable, the doctor can refer him or her to a
mobile team or clinic,' the minister wrote.
The mobile units are being aggressively promoted by Dutch euthanasia
campaign groups who want to expand the eligibility criteria for euthanasia
and also to open facilities specifically for euthanasia along the pattern of
the Dignitas centre in Switzerland.
They claim that 80 per cent of people with dementia or mental illnesses were
being 'missed' by the countrys euthanasia laws.
They are supported by the Dutch Medical Association which this summer issued
guidance effectively saying even people who complained of being lonely could
qualify for euthanasia if it constitutes 'unbearable and lasting suffering'.

Pain: To qualify for euthanasia in Holland, patients must convince doctors
they are making an informed choice in the face of unbearable suffering -
which can include extreme loneliness (posed by model)
Pro-life campaigners in Britain, however, were appalled. Phyllis Bowman of
Right to Life said the incremental liberalisation of Dutch euthanasia
practice sent a 'terrifying warning' to the British people.
She said she found the proposals to set up mobile death squads 'too dreadful
for words'.
'Not even the Nazis thought of that one,' she said.
In Holland, euthanasia is usually carried out by administering a strong
sedative to put the patient in a coma, followed by a drug to stop breathing
and cause death.
To qualify, patients must convince two doctors they are making an informed
choice in the face of unbearable suffering.
It has long been suspected that numbers of cases are being under-reported,
however, as doctors apply a liberal interpretation of the law.
Earlier this year official figures revealed for the first time that doctors
have been killing dementia sufferers, including Alzheimers victims.
A total of 21 people diagnosed as having early-stage dementia died at the
hands of their doctors last year, according to the 2010 annual report on
euthanasia.
At the same time, a series of public meetings were held to encourage the
elderly to learn about their 'right to die'.
The figures from last year also showed another year-on-year rise in cases
with about 2,700 people choosing to death by injection compared to 2,636 the
year before.
In 2003, the year after Holland became the first nation to legalise
euthanasia since Nazi Germany, there were just 1,815 reported cases.
The Dutch government, however, insists that the law is not being abused.

'The greatest care has been taken to regulate care for patients who are
suffering unbearably with no prospect of improvement,' said a spokesman.
'Euthanasia may only be carried out at the explicit request of the patient.'