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Euthanasia is 10 years old
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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10 years ago, Belgium and the Netherlands became the first countries in the world to legalize euthanasia. Today, with the help of doctors in these countries, up to 4,000 people a year pass away.
Over the years, the laws have remained the same, but public opinion has changed, as has the attitude of doctors towards interpreting the law.
Euthanasia by injection is permitted in the Netherlands for patients who are mentally competent but whose suffering has become "unbearable and interminable" due to an incurable disease. That seemed vague at first, but it is becoming clearer over time, says Eric van Wijlik of the Royal Dutch Society of Physicians.
Last year, euthanasia was granted to a patient with Alzheimer's disease for the first time. In 2002, no one would have dared to think about it, says Walburg de Jong of Right-to-Die NL.
The vast majority of the 3,136 patients treated in the Netherlands in 2010 were in the final stages of cancer. About 80% chose to die at home. That's why the country set up six mobile teams just a month ago, which show up at the condemned man's room if the local doctor refuses to carry out the sanctioned killing. Their services have already been used 100 times.
Some criticize this recent practice, because euthanasia should be considered a last resort. And not every seriously ill person who decides to die should be given this right unconditionally. Perhaps if the local police officer refuses, he has some thoughts on this matter?
The Netherlands introduced the law in April 2002, and Belgium followed suit a few months later. The legalization of euthanasia was preceded by a lengthy debate between Christians and secular humanists. To this day, attitudes toward this type of suicide remain ambiguous. Nevertheless, in 2011, 1,133 people took their own lives in this way - 1% of all deaths. The overwhelming majority - 81% - were Flemish. Probably, the cultural proximity to the Dutch plays a role.
They say that in families preparing for the euthanasia of their relatives, peculiar farewell rituals have appeared - including, for example, the last dinner. Something similar was practiced by Roman patricians, to whom Caesar wrote out a death sentence. They opened their veins at a feast in the presence of friends, without stopping philosophical conversations and reading poetry.
Although most countries still reject euthanasia, many of them have, so to speak, soft forms of legalized killing, when, for example, a patient has the right to refuse medical care.