On Monday 10 October, the District Court of The Hague started hearing the lawsuit filed by the ‘Coöperatie Laatste Wil’ against the State of the Netherlands. The cooperation and twenty-nine individual plaintiffs argue that the State is acting unlawfully by maintaining the criminal ban on assisted suicide. Martin Buijsen, Professor of Health Law at Erasmus School of Law, explains his view on the case to RTL Nieuws.
Coöperatie Laatste Wil
Coöperatie Laatste Wil argues that people should be allowed to choose to end their own lives. According to the cooperation, it should become legal to take a drug to end one’s own life or have such a drug administered by a loved one. Therefore, the organisation filed a lawsuit against the State.
Euthanasia Act
Under the current Dutch Euthanasia Act, it is forbidden to help someone end their life. However, there are exceptions to the rule; for example, doctors are allowed to help someone if that person experiences unbearable and incurable pain. In practice, however, many doctors are reluctant to comply with the regulations since incorrectly following the rules may lead to criminal prosecution of the acting doctors.
According to Buijsen, the Dutch regulations are in line with European regulations. “The Netherlands has made these choices. That does not mean the State can be forced by the courts to make other choices”, Buijsen states. “This is politics and not really law. These issues are not for a judge to decide.”
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Watch the fragment of RTL Nieuws here (in Dutch).