Tim Rosales, a spokesperson with the advocacy group Patients Rights Action Fund, said that euthanasia is an extreme and outdated way to handle people's suffering.
"There are better ways to address the issue of people with serious or terminal illnesses," he said.
"Assisted suicide is an extreme way that really is outdated, because with modern medicine and modern therapies, doctors are able to care for individuals and their families who are facing those types of illnesses so that they don't experience pain," he said.
"I would say that it certainly is not the response, both from a healthcare standpoint or even a compassion standpoint, that society ought to be endorsing."
Dr. Bottaro said that in light of the news, anyone with a psychological illness needs to know that there is always hope.
"There's always hope, and the designating of a particular illness as untreatable – it's a lie. We need to keep pushing forward and keep hoping for healing and working towards it."
Only a handful of countries have laws allowing for either euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. Euthanasia differs from physician-assisted suicide in that anyone – a doctor, a family member, the patient – may administer lethal drugs to the patient. Under physician-assisted suicide, the patient's doctor prescribes lethal drugs, but legally only the patient can administer them to themselves.
In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is allowed under legislation in four states – California, Oregon, Vermont and Washington – with Montana has legal physician-assisted suicide by court ruling.
The release of the documents from the Netherlands comes at a time when Canada's Parliament is considering a euthanasia law, which is due for a vote in early June. Medical professionals and advocates from Belgium have been releasing a series of videos urging the country not to legalize it.
Mary Farrow worked as a staff writer for Catholic News Agency until 2020. She has a degree in journalism and English education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.