By
The Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The Dutch parliament approved a bill legalizing euthanasia yesterday, positioning the Netherlands to become the first nation to openly let doctors help suffering patients end their lives.
Advocates of patients' right to die voiced praise for the vote, but many Christian groups and others condemned it, led by the Vatican, which said the law "violates human dignity."
Fending off concerns the Netherlands could become a haven for patients from abroad seeking to end their lives, Dutch officials stressed that foreigners would be unable to meet strict standards under the law for allowing euthanasia.
"There is no possibility for foreigners to come here for euthanasia," said Wijnand Stevens of the Justice Ministry. "The criteria call for a long term doctor-patient relationship. They are just too strict for that."
All 100 seats in parliament's public gallery were full for yesterday's vote, in which legislators announced their votes aloud as requested by a Christian party opposed to the bill.
After the 104-40 vote in Parliament's lower house, the bill was expected to win approval by the upper house early next year and become law.
With the law, the Netherlands would formalize the tolerance it has long held toward euthanasia - thousands of cases are reported every year here and many more go unreported. In 1993, legislators passed a set of guidelines that doctors could follow to carry out euthanasia and - it was understood - go unprosecuted.
Still, euthanasia was a crime punishable by up to 12 years in prison. The new legislation largely adopts the informal guidelines, which say the patient must be feeling unrelenting suffering and know all the medical options.
"Doctors should not be treated as criminals. This will create security for doctors and patients alike," said Health Minister Els Borst, who drafted the bill.
"Something as serious as ending one's life deserves openness," she said after the vote.
Switzerland, Colombia and Belgium tolerate euthanasia. Australia's Northern Territory approved the practice in 1996, but the federal Parliament revoked the law in 1997.
In Oregon, voters approved doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill in 1994. Since the law took affect in 1997, 43 people have died in assisted suicides there. The House of Representatives passed a bill in October that would restrict the practice, but it faces a possible veto.
In doctor-assisted suicides, the patient administers a lethal dose of medication to himself or herself. Under the new Dutch law, a doctor may give it directly to the patient.
Opponents in the Dutch parliament denounced the bill, saying it challenges God's will by giving doctors the power to decide over life and death.
"This a black day in the history of our Parliament," said lawmaker Bas van der Vlies of the State Reform Party SGP. "We believe as Christians that our lives are not in our hands, that we cannot ourselves decide. We must wait for God's leadership."
The Vatican said the law was "a sad record for Holland," and spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said it "violates human dignity."
"It's cheaper to kill people than to take care of them," scoffed Lori Hougens of the Washington-based National Right to Life Committee, adding: "We are very, very saddened" by the law.
"It could have a terrible impact around the world. When you tell people it's OK, it can change them," she said.
In the United States, the Denver-based Hemlock Society said the Netherlands' move was unlikely to help win legal approval for assisted suicide elsewhere. But the president said it could have an impact on U.S. public opinion.
"We are very excited," said Faye Girsh. "We have admired what the people of Holland have been doing for the last 20 years. They have been carefully and openly helping people to die."
The London-based Voluntary Euthanasia Society welcomed the measure "as a courageous step" for the incurably ill.
Under the new Dutch law, a patient must be undergoing unremitting and unbearable suffering, be aware of all other medical options and have sought a second professional opinion. The request must be made voluntarily, persistently and independently.
But the bill does not stipulate that the patient's suffering must be physical, leaving room for unbearable mental suffering to be sufficient cause. It also does not require the patient's disease be terminal.
Patients will also be permitted to leave a written request giving doctors the right to use their own discretion of whether to carry out euthanasia when patients themselves can no longer decide.
A committee consisting of at least three people, including a physician, a lawyer and an expert in medical ethics, will review cases to ensure the criteria are met.
Patients as young as 16 can seek euthanasia in consultation with their parents, and children aged 12-15 must have parental consent, the Justice Ministry said.
