Probably not a good idea to have their number on speed dial.
Dutch mobile euthanasia units to make house calls
New scheme called ‘Life End’ will respond to sick people whose own doctors have refused to help them end their lives at homeA controversial system of mobile euthanasia units that will travel around the country to respond to the wishes of sick people who wish to end their lives has been launched in the Netherlands.
The scheme, which started on Thursday , will send teams of specially trained doctors and nurses to the homes of people whose own doctors have refused to carry out patients’ requests to end their lives.
The launch of the so-called Levenseinde, or “Life End”, house-call units – whose services are being offered to Dutch citizens free of charge – coincides with the opening of a clinic of the same name in The Hague, which will take patients with incurable illnesses as well as others who do not want to die at home.
The scheme is an initiative by the Dutch Association for a Voluntary End to Life (NVVE), a 130,000-member euthanasia organisation that is the biggest of its kind in the world.
Open thread Friday.
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Drunk driver rives onto Philly airport runway. I guess he really wanted to catch his plane.
http://www.philly.com/philly/video/141163343.html
Speedy end of life services. I can see a few problems with that. Some things you want to take a looooong time to get around too. Gives people time to really think through their decisions.
I’m sure it will never be abused or misused either. /s
I ixquicked “dutch euthanasia 2012″ and found these
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/02/26/but-rick-santorums-sorta-right-about-dutch-euthanasia/
http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/21/santorum-more-right-than-wrong-about-dutch-euthanasia
I am deeply suspicious of any system that grants a doctor even more license to play God. A great number of doctors already have a giant-sized ego and a rampant God complex.
(Still hoping I can vote for someone other than Rick or Mitt when the primary farce gets to my state)
I’m doing the protest vote for Paul in VA. Yep, I’ll be getting my crazy on.
I hope the rumors that Mitt & RP have some kind of secret deal are bogus.
No, it wasn’t my mom who was to be euthanized, it was the cat. Oops.
“What were his last words?”
“You’re at the wrong house.”
Ha, so the Michigan delegates ended up splitting 15/15 for Santorum and Mitt. The Michigan GOP didn’t like how that looked, so they just changed it. Now it’s 16/14 for Mitt. Nice to know the GOP party is just as corrupt as the Dem party.
Party politics, it’s a club. We do what we want. Votes? How quaint.
This goes on with the game change post: a c4p commenter pointed out that B0 was just at fundraiser in a HBO exec’s house.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/obama-calls-gop-debates-fodder-for-campaign-ads/
More Freaky Friday fribbits. Saw this at Uppity’s.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/02/japan-invents-speech-jamming-gun-that-silences-people-mid-sentence/
That’s beyond disturbing. And government sponsored….
OTOH, I can see a big market for this — parents!
LOL. That was my first thought too. And then expect a recall when the kids learn to beat Mom to the shut-up gun.
wwwwwhhhhhhaaaaaaaatttt.
I have a good friend who was diagnosed with ALS eighteen months ago. I understand that it’s going to be very painful for him at the end. If that were going to happen to me, I would be grateful to have the choice of ending my life at home before my family had to endure weeks of watching me die inch by inch and in pain. I think it would be reasonable to require three doctors to, independently, certify that a patient had no hope of recovery but I want to have that choice.
I agree, JeanLouise. It should only be in hopeless cases at the patient’s wish but I would want that option. I have a friend, dying of untreatable cancer, who would have preferred to go a few weeks ago, comfortable and listening to classical music. He would have appreciated that option. He has had to endure so much since then.
The Netherlands is a lovely, civilized place.
djmm
I think euthanasia may be acceptable in some cases but I am surprised that people don’t have a problem with a group whose sole job is to dole out euthanasia. Someone people can call if their own doctors, who are legally allowed to kill them, think euthanasia is unwarranted.
When your only tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail. When your job is mercy-killing, even a hangnail will look like unbearable suffering, specially if you have to show your job is needed.