CNA Staff, Jul 28, 2020 / 09:13 am
A proposal in the Netherlands to allow assisted suicide for healthy individuals over the age of 75 has drawn criticism for offering death rather than social support to people who are lonely and depressed.
Dr. Gordon Macdonald, head of the UK-based alliance Care Not Killing, called the proposal "deeply troubling."
"The slippery slope is real and the Dutch euthanasia law has already been massively extended," he said in a statement.
Assisted suicide became legal in the Netherlands in 2002 for terminally ill adults who are mentally competent. Since then, the law has been expanded to encompass individuals with non-terminal chronic illnesses and disabilities, as well as mental health problems. Children as young as 12 and seriously ill infants may also be euthanized.