D66 proposes change to euthanasia law to help dementia sufferers

Opposition party D66 has drawn up draft legislation to remove euthanasia from the criminal code in a move to make it less difficult for doctors to help people with dementia to die at their request.

Euthanasia is bound by strict rules and can lead to criminal prosecution if not all the conditions are met.

A new law would also require doctors to talk to dementia patients about their wishes regarding euthanasia within three months of diagnosis.

D66 leader Rob Jetten said doctors are “afraid of the consequences” and that a new law would “provide more cover for doctors if they agree to perform euthanasia on people with dementia.”

In a case quoted by RTL Nieuws, Michal van Slooten-van Leeuwen said her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. When she lost the ability to recognise people and read, she indicated she no longer wanted to live. “Her life was completed,” her daughter said.

However, her family doctor said he had doubts and that he needed “to be able to sleep at night”.

It took over a year before Van Slooten-Van Leeuwen’s mother was granted euthanasia and this was too long, she said. “It was very difficult for my mother to continue living. The last six months were particularly tough because of the decline and the suffering, said.

D66 will send the draft law to parliament later this year. ChristenUnie MP Mirjam Bikker is one of several religious and conservative MPs expected to oppose the law.

“D66 keeps moving the goalposts for euthanasia. What used to be an exception is becoming the norm. Vulnerable life deserves care and protection. Let’s put more effort into that instead of a new push towards death,” she said on social media.