{"id":128501,"date":"2016-10-17T10:45:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T14:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=128501"},"modified":"2016-10-17T13:12:10","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T17:12:10","slug":"netherlands-brink-extending-assisted-suicide-people-feel-life-complete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/netherlands-brink-extending-assisted-suicide-people-feel-life-complete\/","title":{"rendered":"Netherlands on brink of extending assisted suicide to people who feel \u201clife is complete\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The first country to legalize assisted suicide<\/a> is now on the brink of taking it a step further and making it legal for individuals who feel their \u201clife is complete\u201d to also choose euthanasia.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands expanded physician-assisted suicide in 2002. Now the Dutch government intends to draft a law that would legalize assisted suicide for people who feel their life is over but are not even terminally ill or deemed to be suffering. Reuters\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that the Dutch government expects to draft a law by late 2017.<\/p>\n

The Guardian reported that in the Netherlands last year<\/a>, 5,516 people were killed through euthanasia resulting in a total of 3.9% of all deaths nationwide. Business Insider reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Health Minister Edith Schippers and Justice Minister Ard van der Steur wrote in the new letter that the guidelines should move beyond decriminalization to fully legalize the act. They did hedge in saying the law would apply only to senior citizens, “because the wish for a self-chosen end of life primarily occurs in the elderly.”<\/p>\n

The ministers did not specify a cut-off age.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Physician-assisted suicide in the United States is currently legal in the states of California, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. But there has been an increasing push for legalizing physician assisted suicide in many states.<\/p>\n

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