How the Dutch came to consider euthanasia for those “tired of living”

Joe Carter writing at First Things, On The Square: “Over a period of forty years, the Dutch have continued the search for where to draw the line with euthanasia, shifting from acceptance of voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill, to voluntary euthanasia for the chronically ill, to non-voluntary euthanasia for the sick and disabled, to euthanasia for those who are not sick at all but are merely ‘suffering through living.’ While the initial impetus may have been spurred by a desire to give expanded rights to the person who faces extreme suffering or imminent death, the effect has been to concentrate power into the hands of state-sponsored medical professionals. And while the justification for assisted death is usually the supposed well being of the suffering patient, the Dutch have redefined natural dependency into an unacceptable or unwanted social burden.”
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(2.16.2010) CCFON: “As a result of the ‘expanding’ law, Eugéne Sutorius, a leader of NVVE (Nederlandse Vereniging voor een Vrijwillig Levenseinde), a euthanasia lobby group in the Netherlands, is leading a new group of academics who are demanding the legalisation of euthanasia for people who are simply ‘tired of life.’”

Wesley J. Smith at The Human Future (2/16/10): Euthanasia Created Dutch Culture of Death: Elderly “Tired of Life” Next Category for Termination