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Netherlands - Euthanization of Newborns

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posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 07:00 AM
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Not sure if this is a world event, or a medical forum item.

The elderly are euthanized. Now the newborn are euthanized.
I understand compassion and wanting to end pain and/or
suffering. I understand that. However, there is also the
reality that some people just want to get rid of 'inconvenience' and
get rid of those that society doesn't think is 'relevant' or 'productive'.
Ending the life of a suffering human can quickly become ending the
life of a person because of _________ (fill in the blank).

When it comes to life, there are other HIGHER forces at work and other
reasons for life, even a short life. We may not understand it now, but
there are reasons and I am afraid that interruption of those reasons
isn't doing us any good. Of course, if faced with my own child suffering
intensely I might be tempted to change my mind on that ...

Here is the article for your consideration -

www.thebostonchannel.com...

Excerpt

The BostonChannel.Com
March 10, 2005

Study Suggests Newborn Euthanasia Often Goes Unreported
Netherlands Survey Suggests 15-20 Infants Euthanized Each Year

At least five mercy killings of newborns occur for every one reported to
authorities in the Netherlands, doctors there reported just months after
the first startling news of the controversial practice.

In 2002, doctors at University Medical Center Groningen helped create the
so-called Groningen protocol, a list of standards for performing and
reporting euthanasia of newborns with serious, incurable deformities.
The aim was to encourage more reporting and discussion.

Two pediatricians at the hospital, Drs. Pieter J.J. Sauer and Eduard
Verhagen, report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine that 22
mercy killings of newborns who otherwise would have lingered in intensive
care for years were reported to authorities from 1997 to 2004, about three
each year. But national surveys of Dutch doctors have found 15 to 20 such
cases a year, out of about 200,000 births.

In France, 73 percent of doctors in one study reported using drugs to end a newborn's life, but those cases aren't reported to authorities. Meanwhile, 43 percent of Dutch doctors surveyed and between 2 percent and 4 percent of doctors in the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Germany and Sweden reported doing so.

MORE INTERESTING ARTICLE AT THE SITE -
www.thebostonchannel.com...



[edit on 3/11/2005 by FlyersFan]



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 07:04 AM
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Looks like hitler's dream lives on in europe, purification of the race through "mercy" killing of the weak...................



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 07:58 AM
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DrHoracid,I think you may be jumping to a conclusion without much fact. It sounds to me like most of these children would not have survived anyway and that the reason they are researching it is so it does not go futher than that. We still have many countries that kill a female child simply because of gender and now that they have done it for so many years they wonder why there men have no women.



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 08:33 AM
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Euthanasia- we do it for pets to ease their suffering, why are people different?



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 08:38 AM
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Originally posted by factfinder38
DrHoracid,I think you may be jumping to a conclusion without much fact. It sounds to me like most of these children would not have survived anyway and that the reason they are researching it is so it does not go futher than that. We still have many countries that kill a female child simply because of gender and now that they have done it for so many years they wonder why there men have no women.


yes, and who is to judge who is to live? doctors with an agenda? perhaps kill the ones that may cost too much to save?



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 08:41 AM
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Originally posted by DrHoracid
kill the ones that may cost too much to save?

Kill the ones that the parents don't want because they aren't perfect?
Kill the ones that the parents find too burdensome?
Kill the ones that society feels won't contribute enough?
Kill the ones that would take up too much time to care for?
Kill the ones that are girls. (already happens in China. girls are
left to die because everyone wants a boy. orphanagees are
full of girls who were found before death. some orphanages
in China have 'dieing rooms' where the girls are left to die)
Kill the ones .....

See what I fear could happen? And yes, I do think it could.
I understand people wanting to end another human's pain.
I really do understand that. If it were my child, I'd be a mess
over this. However, there is a VERY slippery slope here. VERY.



[edit on 3/11/2005 by FlyersFan]



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 10:11 AM
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Originally posted by FlyersFan

See what I fear could happen? And yes, I do think it could.
I understand people wanting to end another human's pain.
I really do understand that. If it were my child, I'd be a mess
over this. However, there is a VERY slippery slope here. VERY.




Agreed.

My understanding - most of the babes euthanized lack organs and other vital parts. They would not survive without life support, and I can accept letting them go.

OTH - the same situation occurs in other nations, guaranteed. The reality of infant euthanasia needs to be be broguht out in the open where we all can see it, and monitor what's happening.

If we don't, and doctors are not given legal guidelines, then the slope will slide quickly out of control - if it hasn't already.

Important post flyersfan - thanks.


.


.



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 10:17 AM
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Originally posted by FlyersFan
See what I fear could happen? And yes, I do think it could.
I understand people wanting to end another human's pain.
I really do understand that. If it were my child, I'd be a mess
over this. However, there is a VERY slippery slope here. VERY.


This is not a new thing, babies have been euthanized since the beginning of "civilization" and before that probably just left to die on their own if they couldn't survive. I'd bet it's far less frequent now and will become even less frequent as medicine advances and there's less conditions we can't fix. The numbers seem to be about 1 in 10,000 so it doesn't sound like it's being abused and I wouldn't worry about it becoming popular.



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 10:30 AM
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Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
The numbers seem to be about 1 in 10,000 so it doesn't
sound like it's being abused and I wouldn't worry about it
becoming popular.


Thanks for the reassurance.

I dunno'. 1 in 10,000 seems very high to me. And the
article said that many more happen and go unreported.
Also, like I said, China already practices infanticide. They
leave baby girls to die but save the boys. This isn't one
or two ... this is thousands upon thousands upon thousands.
That's why only baby girls are available in orphanages over
there.

I saw a news show on tv that talked about how women in
India will find out the sex of their pre-born baby and kill it
if it 's a girl.

I hope you are right that this won't become popular and
abused. But honestly, when I look at the behaviors and the
selfishness of everyone in the world, I worry. I really
worry about this.



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 10:44 AM
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Here are some of the instances where it would be used:


msnbc.msn.com...

Examples include extremely premature births, where children suffer brain damage from bleeding and convulsions; and diseases where a child could only survive on life support for the rest of its life, such as severe cases of spina bifida and epidermosis bullosa, a rare blistering illness.


I feel that's an appropriate use of euthanasia.



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 10:53 AM
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Ace of Base. I'm not concerned about letting children die with
dignity. I'm concerned that it will slide into other areas being
considered acceptable. Areas that aren't.

Like I said before, if it were my child and she was born without
a liver or something ... I'd be a mess over this. I understand
people wanting to end terminal pain. I'm not saying that is
right or wrong as it is ... what I'm worried about is the infanticide slide
down into sex selection and the so on. It's not far fetched to
think it can happen. It already does happen in China and India.



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 12:02 PM
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Originally posted by FlyersFan
what I'm worried about is the infanticide slide
down into sex selection and the so on. It's not far fetched to
think it can happen. It already does happen in China and India.


Those practises are accepted in some Eastern cultures, but totally taboo in Western cultures. I tend to think that we shouldn't meddle in other cultural beliefs, and it's our own cultural beliefs that will always prevent euthansia being abused. It's one of those things that nobody likes but it has to be done occasionally and we have to trust doctors to tell us when it's the kindest option.



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 12:11 PM
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Here is some more info on the same subject.....sad really. See what is starting?


Study: Newborn euthanasia underreported!



posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 12:15 PM
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Anyone can play the 'what if......' game it's hardly much of a reason to once again trot out garbage about Hitler & Co.

Just because the Netherlands is actually progressive and mature enough to have an open and honest policy on this does not mean abuse is going on.

In fact just the opposite might well be the case as I know for a fact it goes on in places where it is supposedly 'illegal' (I know of 2 cases where chronically terminally ill and desparately pain-ridden elderly people were 'helped on their way' by compassionate doctors - with the families full blessing and that of the sufferer (in the fewer and fewer lucid moments they had that is).

An open and legal framework means all those nod and wink cases (which are actually illegal) that go on now no longer can, and quite rightly too.

Abuse of the Netherlands situation is murder pure and simple and that has nothing to do with euthanazia.

As has been said before, we wouldn't allow a dog to suffer what some children and elderly have to, that strikes me as deeply inhumane.

[edit on 11-3-2005 by sminkeypinkey]



posted on Mar, 12 2005 @ 05:11 PM
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I've heard of a recent trend of couples where one of the partners is known to have a familly history of inharited serious genetic disease, were able to get healthy children by screening both the semen and the female eggs in the lab, sief out the healthy ones, merge them and implant them back in to the female womb....

I am asking pro-life like Flyersfan / Dr Horacid, would you think such procedure is acceptable ?


[edit on 12-3-2005 by Silenus]




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