GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: Public prosecutor drops case against Dutch euthanasia doctor

domingo, 28 de octubre de 2018

Public prosecutor drops case against Dutch euthanasia doctor

Public prosecutor drops case against Dutch euthanasia doctor

Bioedge

Public prosecutor drops case against Dutch euthanasia doctor

by | 27 Oct 2018 |

Prosecutors in the Netherlands have dropped a case against a physician who euthanised a semi-conscious, severely impaired patient without written consent.

The case involved a 72-year-old woman suffering from metastatic pancreatic cancer, who was euthanized following cerebral haemorrhage that left her barely able to communicate. The woman had not signed a written declaration of intent, though the treating doctor said that the woman had expressed a desire for euthanasia on several occasions in the past.

The Public Prosecution Service announced Friday that it had conducted an investigation and said it was satisfied that the woman’s wish for euthanasia was voluntary and well-considered. They noted that, while the woman could not complete a written declaration of intent, she could nod and gesture with her hands, and that she had indicated that she wished to be euthanized.

The Dutch Regional Euthanasia Review Committees (RTE) had referred the case to authorities in 2017, along with three other cases of possible non-compliance with euthanasia regulations. The RTE were concerned that in this case there was no written consent, and they questioned the doctor’s interpretation of the patient’s “signals” following the brain haemorrhage. The RTE was also concerned that alternative options for relieving the patient’s suffering, such as palliative sedation, had not been adequately explored.

The Public Prosecution Service said that it intended to release its findings on the other cases within the next few weeks.

Sunday, October 28, 2018

I don’t know whether it is due to reading too much science fiction or not reading enough, but I find it impossible to take the transhumanist movement seriously. Some of its ideas about self-definition have seeped into mainstream culture, like transgenderism. However, its vision of a future in which homo sapiens has evolved into Morlocks and Eloi (as H.G. Wells foresaw in The Time Machine) seems almost preposterous, at least to me.

Perhaps to allay fears that scepticism from people like me will eventually lead to injustice against the more advanced sort of people, American transhumanists have drafted a transhumanist Bill of Rights (see below). This guarantees “sentient entities” everything from universal health care and internet coverage to “self-consciousness in perpetuity”.

One thing that I can never quite grasp about the earnest predictions of transhumanists is whether they actually care whether their schemes are practical. Uploading one’s consciousness to the internet sounds super but the obstacles in its path are more like the Himalayas than parking lot speedbumps – apart from all the ethical issues. Anyhow, good luck to them!