Non-voluntary euthanasia

The Encyclical Evangelium vitae of Saint John Paul II, of March 25, 1995, is a clear and firm text: “euthanasia is therefore a crime that no human law can claim to legitimize.

Even recently, in June 2016, Pope Francis confirmed this position of the Church in an interview with the newspaper “Christian Family” where he declared that we should not “hide behind so-called compassion to justify and approve of death of a patient. »[2].

[5] Active non-voluntary euthanasia is illegal in all countries in the world, although it is practised in the Netherlands on infants (see below) under an agreement between physicians and district attorneys.

[6] Passive non-voluntary euthanasia (withholding life support) is legal in various countries, such as India, Albania, and many parts of the United States and is practiced in English hospitals.

[9] Arguing against legalization, Peter Saunders, campaign director for Care Not Killing, an alliance of Christian and disability groups, called Doyal's proposals "the very worst form of medical paternalism whereby doctors can end the lives of patients after making a judgment that their lives are of no value and claim that they are simply acting in their patients' best interests".

[15] Prior to the establishment of that law, euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands were already tolerated for many years, as for example described by G. van der Wal and R. J. Dillmann in 1994.

[16][17] Since 2004, the Netherlands, also has a protocol to be followed in cases of euthanasia on children under the age of 12 (see also below), which was ratified by the Dutch National Association of Pediatricians, although the practice remains technically illegal.