Dutch doctors provide ‘mercy killings’ at home

The Netherlands has launched a new medical service across the country providing euthanasia assistance for terminally-ill patients at their homes, ABC News reported on Thursday. Six mobile teams, each consisting of a specially trained doctor and a nurse, will be cruising Dutch roads to fulfill suicide requests for patients, whose own doctors refused to help them with euthanasia. Walburg de Jong, a spokeswoman for the Dutch society Right-to-Die, said the registration for the new service begins on Thursday and they expect some 1,000 requests for mercy killings annually. “From Thursday, the Levenseindekliniek (Life-end clinic) will have mobile teams where people who think they comply with the criteria for euthanasia can register,” ABC News quoted her as saying. De Jong added that some 3,100 mercy killings carried out in the Netherlands annually and the Life-end clinic have already received 70 requests after it announced in February its plan to launch mobile euthanasia teams. The mobile euthanasia service was approved by Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers, but it was immediately criticized by the Royal Dutch Society of Doctors, who say that doctors from the new service would be unable to quickly assess whether a patient is terminally ill. The Netherlands became the first country to legalize euthanasia in April, 2002, but there are strict criteria for the legally assisted suicides. A patient must be mentally fit when requesting euthanasia and a special commission consisting of doctors, medical experts and lawyers, must agree that the disease is incurable and the patient is facing unbearable and interminable suffering.