CNA Staff, Jun 16, 2020 / 10:00 am
A doctor in the Netherlands who euthanized a woman with advanced Alzheimer's, despite the woman saying she did not want to be killed, maintains that she made the right decision.
"I believed that her suffering was truly awful and I knew that it could last for a long time," retired geriatric doctor Marinou Arends told Nieuwsuur television program in a new interview.
Arends – whose identity is only being made public – was cleared of murder in a case involving the 2016 death of a 74-year-old patient with serious dementia.
Euthanasia was legalized in the Netherlands in 2002. The procedure is available for terminally ill patients who experience unbearable suffering and face no foreseeable improvement. Under the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act, patients are required to give consent in writing and persistently over time.