Official figures from Holland show that patients with early-stage dementia, including Alzheimer’s, are being killed by doctors under the country’s euthanasia laws.
The figures, leaked to a state television news channel, revealed that 21 patients with early-stage dementia were put to death by lethal injection last year.
Dementia patients have not been included in figures before, so critics of Holland’s laws on euthanasia are now concerned that the pool of patients who qualify for euthanasia is growing larger.
Phyllis Bowman from the British pro-life group Right to Life, said: “I think the figures are frightening and we have every reason to be afraid.
“That people are putting themselves forward for death so early suggests that there has been quite a bit of pressure put on them.”
Although 95 per cent of the Dutch public support the country’s current laws on euthanasia, only 30 per cent of Dutch doctors agree that it is right to administer a lethal injection to dementia sufferers.
The same figures also show that the number of people who choose to die by lethal injection is increasing annually, with 2,700 people choosing to die by lethal injection in 2010, up from 2,636 the year before.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of Christian Concern, said:
“The legalisation of euthanasia is not kind to vulnerable people, who may feel pressure to end their lives prematurely. We need to defend our existing laws and not let pressure groups change the law on assisted suicide in this nation.”
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