SAVES is not affiliated with Exit International / Dr Philip Nitschke and opposes the public availability of a 'peaceful pill'.

Spain

On the same day that the Dutch Parliament voted on legalisation for voluntary euthanasia, the Spanish OCU, the main consumer association of the country with 60,000 members, published a poll of Spanish doctors and nurses. 65% of doctors and 85% of nurses report having had requests for active voluntary euthanasia. The poll also states that three out of every four Spaniards would be in favour of legalising voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill with unbearable suffering.

Reference: ERGO electronic mailing list Nov 28 2000

Colombia

The most requested paper at the World Federation Conference (September 2000) was presented by Justice Carlos Gaviria Diaz, Chief Justice of the Colombia Constitutional Court, which ruled in 1997 that physician aid in dying is no longer a crime. Highlights appear below.

Active Euthanasia and the Colombian Constitutional Court

The Colombian Constitution provides a solid foundation for decriminalising merciful homicide, when a person suffering an incurable illness, requests that their life be brought to an end. For instance, Article 1 establishes that the Republic of Colombia, based on 'the social rule of law', is pluralistic and founded on respect for human life. Article 16 grants every person the right to develop their personality freely, with no limitations other than those imposed by the rights of others, and the law. This draws a contrast between the democratic liberal state and the paternalistic one, which treats citizens as subjects.

Pluralism implies choosing a path amongst all the possible meanings and purposes of life. A person therefore may consider life a sacred good, deem it valuable though not necessarily sacred, or even not valuable at all. Arguments which claim that voluntary euthanasia contravenes article 11 of the Constitution - The right to life is inviolable, are unsuccessful. It is evident that if life is a right, no one can legitimately be deprived of it against their will. It is something quite different to impose a duty to live until natural death, regardless of the circumstances one must face. While it may be a legitimate belief, it is not one for the state to enshrine for who do not share such a view. A 'good' cannot continue to be so when the holder no longer values it as such.

Decriminalisation of voluntary euthanasia also erases the fragile distinction between omitting a behavior which prolongs life, and that of taking deliberate action to end life. For upon request, is it not better to take direct action to extinguish unwanted suffering, rather than force someone to endure it while waiting for eventual relief through 'lack of action'?

Socrates and Christ are considered to be paradigms of morality. The first judged it better to die than to live without dignity, and the second, if we do not misinterpret His message, considered it good to die for humanity. Both lead us to the conclusion that holding on to life is not always the best objective possible. Nor is causing another person's death the worst evil.

It seems clear that it could be worse to torture someone or force someone to suffer, than to agree to suppress their suffering. The European declaration of Human Rights includes The right not to be forced to suffer. Taking of life without the consent of its 'owner' is an atrocious crime, as is imposing the duty to live upon someone who rightfully wishes to die.

What the Colombian Constitutional Court has done is not as critics intend to show, to undermine life, but to rescue the morally responsible, dignified and free person.

Reference: Hemlock Society USA Timelines Fall 2000

Belgium

More than three in 100 deaths in Belgium's northern Flemish region every year are the result of lethal injection without the patient's request, according to a recent medical study. (1)

Euthanasia, where a patient explicitly asks to have his or her life ended, accounts for a further 1.3 percent of deaths in the region, according to a Belgian university study, published in the British medical journal The Lancet.

Belgium is considering proposals from the ruling Socialist, Liberal and Green coalition to decriminalize certain forms of euthanasia, against fierce Christian Democrat opposition. The Belgian study, conducted in 1998 and based on anonymous questionnaires sent to physicians, follows similar surveys in Australia 1995 (2) and in the Netherlands in 1990 (3) and 1995 (4). Australia's Northern Territory legalized medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients in 1996, but the law was later repealed.

The Belgian study found that in almost 40 percent of deaths, a medical end-of-life decision was involved -- either to shorten a patient's life, alleviate pain with a potentially life-shortening treatment, or withholding treatment. The frequency of deaths preceded by an end-of-life decision is similar in Belgium and the Netherlands, but lower than in Australia, which was 64.8 percent in 1995.

'However, in Flanders, the rate of administration of lethal drugs to patients without their explicit request is similar to Australia, and significantly higher than in the Netherlands', the study claimed. In the Netherlands the rate was 0.7 percent of all deaths in 1995, about four times less than that in northern Belgium. In Australia, some 3.5 percent of all deaths were the result of lethal injection without the patient's explicit request.

'Perhaps less attention is given to the requirements of careful end-of-life practice in a society with a restrictive approach, than in one with an open approach that tolerates and regulates euthanasia and PAS (Physician Assisted Suicide)' the study concluded; referring to different approaches in Belgium and Australia, on the one hand, and the Netherlands on the other.

This is an edited version of a report 'Lethal Jabs Study Fuels Belgian Euthanasia Debate', Reuters Brussels, November 24, 2000

References follow for your information…ed

(1) Deliens L. Mortier F. et.al. 'End of life decisions in medical practice in Flanders, Belgium: a nationwide survey' in Lancet, 2000; 356: 1806-11

(2) Kuhse H. Singer P. Clark M. Rickard M. 'End -of -life decisions in Australian medical practice. Medical Journal of Australia 1997; 166: 191-6

(3) van der Maas PJ. van Delden JJM. Pijnenborg L. Looman CWN. 'Euthanasia and other medical decisions concerning the end of life. Lancet 1991; 338 : 669-74

(4) van der Maas PJ. van der Wal G. Havertake I et. al. 'Euthanasia, physician - aided suicide, and other medical practices involving the end of life in the Netherlands, 1990-1995.

New England Journal of Medicine 1996; 335: 1699-1705

13 March 2001