Dutch seek to expand euthanasia policy

THE Dutch government is seeking to expand its current euthanasia policy, setting guidelines for when doctors may end the lives of terminally ill newborns with the parents’ consent, The Associated Press has learned.

A letter outlining the new directives, which also include guidelines for late-term abortions, was expected to be submitted to parliament for discussion by mid-October, but the new policy will not require a change of law, Dutch health ministry spokeswoman Annette Dijkstra said yesterday. The new guidelines are likely to spark an outcry from the Vatican, right-to-life proponents and some advocacy groups for the handicapped who abhor the current policy that allows adult euthanasia if the patients request it and if certain conditions are met.

Proponents and opponents agree the change is doubly important because it will provide the model for how the Dutch will treat other cases in which patients are unable to say whether they want to live or die, such as the mentally retarded or elderly people who have become demented.