In another rather unsurprising medical development--the Netherlands, the same country who brought you socialized medicine, legalized prostitution and hash cafes, comes "ethical infantcide" for those young ones not deemed viable for productive, long-lasting lives.
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP)- A hospital in the Netherlands — the first nation to permit euthanasia — recently proposed guidelines for mercy killings of terminally ill newborns, and then made a startling revelation: It has already begun carrying out such procedures, which include administering a lethal dose of sedatives.The announcement by the Groningen Academic Hospital came amid a growing discussion in Holland on whether to legalize euthanasia on people incapable of deciding for themselves whether they want to end their lives — a prospect viewed with horror by euthanasia opponents and as a natural evolution by advocates.
In August, the main Dutch doctors' association KNMG urged the Health Ministry to create an independent board to review euthanasia cases for terminally ill people "with no free will," including children, the severely mentally retarded and people left in an irreversible coma after an accident.
The Groningen Protocol, as the hospital's guidelines have come to be known, would create a legal framework for permitting doctors to actively end the life of newborns deemed to be in similar pain from incurable disease or extreme deformities.
The guideline says euthanasia is acceptable when the child's medical team and independent doctors agree the pain cannot be eased and there is no prospect for improvement, and when parents think it's best.
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.
The hospital revealed last month it carried out four such mercy killings in 2003, and reported all cases to government prosecutors. There have been no legal proceedings against the hospital or the doctors. (more)
Ah, yes!
If euthanasia is truly legalized (as it appears it will be/is) in the Netherlands, it skips about 8 steps on the Scary Scale where China once set the previous record with its 1994 'Maternal and Infant Health Care Law'. The law included,
"mandatory pre-marital screenings for 'genetic diseases of a serious nature' and 'relevant mental disease.' Those who are diagnosed with such diseases are required either to not marry or to agree to 'long term contraceptive measures' or to submit to sterilization."1This goes way beyond determining a baby is an "inconvenience at this point (in a woman's) life"--This just plain determines the life is plain worthless. Every life is precious as it is a gift from God--His perfect creation no matter how imperfect we deem the life to be in terms of frailty. Killing a child inside of the womb is no different than outside.
Mercy killing, indeed.