Euthanasia is only for doctors, say Dutch prosecutors
by Michael Cook | 9 Dec 2017 |
Albert Heringa at his trial in 2015
A 75-year-old Dutch man who helped his 99-year-old mother to die after her euthanasia request had been refused by doctors should be given a three-month suspended jail sentence, says a public prosecutor.The case has been in the courts and the media for years. The woman died in 2008. Her son Albert Heringa was found guilty in 2013 but he was not punished. On appeal in 2015 the Dutch Supreme Court called for a retrial.
The public prosecutor declared in court that “Assisted suicide can only be carried out without punishment by a doctor. The suspect is not a doctor and cannot therefore claim exclusion from prosecution on the grounds of the euthanasia legislation.” While his intention was good – to free his aged mother from blindness and back pain – Heringa was not authorised to carry out euthanasia.
Heringa filmed his mother’s last moments as she took a lethal dose of medication. The footage was later used in a 2010 documentary, De laatste wens van Moek (Mum’s final wish).
There has been so much “inappropriate behaviour” in the press over the past two months, ever since movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was exposed as a serial molester of women, that it deserves its own acronym, IB. IB is a euphemism for a range of appalling actions, like sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape.
And now, thanks to an Arizona Congressman we can add surrogacy to the IB list. Trent Franks resigned this week after revelations that he had pressured women on his staff to act as a surrogate mother. It’s not a pretty story, but it helps to expose the exploitative potential of surrogacy, which is so often depicted as generous and life-affirming.
Heads up: the next issue of BioEdge will be the last until January. Hey! Everyone deserves a holiday, even the staff of BioEdge.
And now, thanks to an Arizona Congressman we can add surrogacy to the IB list. Trent Franks resigned this week after revelations that he had pressured women on his staff to act as a surrogate mother. It’s not a pretty story, but it helps to expose the exploitative potential of surrogacy, which is so often depicted as generous and life-affirming.
Heads up: the next issue of BioEdge will be the last until January. Hey! Everyone deserves a holiday, even the staff of BioEdge.
 Michael Cook Editor BioEdge |  |  |  |
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