There are lots of services that provide in-home services to the elderly. There is Meals on Wheels, and groups like Home Instead, who?send medical workers and assistants to make it easier for senior citizens to remain at home rather than moving into assisted living. Beginning in March of 2012, the Netherlands is going to begin to put a macabre and very disturbing twist on ?home care.?
The Dutch made it legal for doctors to kill patients at their request in 2002. Supposedly, strict guidelines are in place to secure that these individuals are experiencing ?lasting and unbearable suffering,? and that they are requesting it of their own free will. There have been many reports of abuse within the Dutch system, with the number of those who had physician assistance with death being greatly under-reported, and accusations of patients dying without actually giving consent (in other words, elderly parents being put to death at the request of their children or other family members.)
In spite of the fact that the number of assisted suicides grows every year, (up 13% in 2009 alone) the rate is not high enough for the Dutch Voluntary Euthanasia Society?(NVVE). On March 1, six mobile units, each with a doctor and a nurse, will begin dispensing death at the patient?s front door. Working in the Hague, they estimate that they will have at least one thousand requests yearly. They advertise themselves as the place that people can call if they have been refused help from other doctors for ?ethical reasons.? They will specialize in those who are ?in the early stages of dementia and those suffering from chronic psychiatric problems.?
Now the law in the Netherlands states that two physicians need to sign off on a patient before they can receive assistance in dying. Plus, as I?ve stated, they are supposed to be ?suffering.? These mobile units don?t seen to care about either regulation. It almost sounds as if you feel like dying, you can call them up and they will be right over. Until they begin operations, there is really no way of knowing what the reality will be.
The conditions placed on physician assisted death in the Netherlands are pretty much a joke to begin with.?It is much like the restrictions?on?late-term abortion in this country which can be done for the ?health? of the mother, since health can be interpreted in so many ways.
Dr. Morton Horn, a physician from Norway, puts is this way: ?The term ?strict conditions? is inaccurate for the Dutch law on euthanasia. The ?condition? here is that the doctor must deem the patient?s suffering as ?unbearable?. That is, of course, entirely subjective, but in a dizzifying way since what we?re talking about here is the doctor?s subjective evaluation of the patient?s subjective experience. How can a doctor, in an objective fashion, evaluate whether the suffering of his patient is, really, unbearable? Of course he cannot.
?The Dutch law enables doctors to do what they feel is appropriate, including killing their patients if they deem it to be the right thing. That may be what the Dutch public wants. But it?s false to call those criteria strict. They?re on the contrary loose, ill-defined, and they provide a very meager defense against a slippery slope. Which is, perhaps, what is now taking place with the rising euthanasia numbers in the Netherlands.?
This is probably as the reason why these mobile death teams, even though they ignore the present laws, will probably be allowed to function without fear of sanction. Groups like NVVE, and many others, seek to make the Dutch law much more lenient than it is. The blood of the elderly is in the water, and the sharks are circling.
One such movement is a group which is attempting to pass a measure called, Out of Free Will. This proposal would allow any Dutch citizen over the age of 70 who is ?tired of life? the right to go to a clinic and have it ended. They also want a new profession to be developed which would be solely trained to bring these deaths about; a specialized ?death squad,? so to speak.
The group pushing for this new law talk about the moment when ?life is completed?; that there is a time when there seems to be no more purpose for living. ?When they feel left behind, unable to escape an empty existence.? That, they say, is the time when the elderly should be able to choose their own end and find ?death with dignity.?
I have always found that statement to be non-sensical and very sad. As people age, a sense of worthlessness tends to set in. Even though I am only 57, I don?t remember things as well as I used to. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and am not able to be as physically active as in the past. I tire out more easily, and can see where, as I continue to age, I will not feel as helpful as I would like to be. However, that is just one side of a much larger picture.
In my opinion, the older a person gets, the more they have to offer as far as wisdom and advice. They have a clearer perspective on how the past and the present tie together, and can help those who are younger to slow down and appreciate life. I treasure the people in my life who have a wealth of knowledge that can only come from age and experience. They are valuable treasures who are not treated with the respect and devotion they deserve.
It frightens me to think how many vulnerable Dutch citizens chose to die because those around them convinced them they had no value. Perhaps they had illnesses and the medical bills were escalating. Or, the inheritance money was being eaten away on the expense of assisted living facilities. It would not take much to convince some poor souls who already doubt their worth that they should just get out-of-the-way for the sake of their family.
Plus, what do these death advocates think happens when one ceases to breathe? Are they imagining some idyllic nirvana? The Bible tells me that we all go to one of two places: those who believe in Christ and have given their lives to Him will enter a realm of eternal glory, and the rest face the terror of a Christless eternity.? The author of such a movement of death can only be Satan, for he is the one who blinds our eyes and encourages us to jump freely into such a terrible fate.
I truly believe that unless we are diligent, the fate of the Dutch will one day be ours. As I have pointed in the past, it is already on our doorstep. (See my blog, ?Painting Death with Pretty Colors? from May 11, 2011.) As we can see from Holland, once it begins, the death rate grows higher and higher every year, and it becomes increasingly easy to loosen the restrictions on who can die. We must not let that happen here!
Keeping it true!? Barb
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