Killing Babies, Compassionately :: Euthanasia

Euthanasia: March 27, 2006
Killing Babies, Compassionately

At last, a high government official in Europe got up the nerve to chastise the Dutch government for preparing to legalize infant euthanasia. The Dutch were outraged. Wesley Smith writes

...the prime minister of the Netherlands thinks that killing babies because they are born with terminal or seriously disabling conditions is not a scandal, but daring to point out accurately that German doctors did the same during World War II, is.

(...) German doctors did kill thousands of disabled babies, for which a few such physicians were hanged at Nuremberg. Dutch apologists know this, of course. But they claim that the Netherlands' infant euthanasia program is substantially different: Dutch doctors are motivated by compassion whereas the Germans' were motivated by the bigotry of racial hygiene. Of course it is the act of killing disabled and dying babies that is wrong, not the motivation. But even leaving that aside, the Dutch defense is not as persuasive as Prime Minister Balkenende would like to believe.

(...) Beginning in early 1939, babies born with birth defects or with congenital diseases were euthanized. Their doctors would admit these unfortunate infants to medical clinics, where they would be killed. The practice quickly became systematized. Regulations made it mandatory for midwives and doctors to notify authorities whenever a baby was born with birth defects.
(...) IN 2004, Groningen University Medical Center made international headlines when it admitted to permitting pediatric euthanasia and published the "Groningen Protocol," infanticide guidelines the hospital followed when killing 22 disabled newborns between 1997 and 2004. The media reacted as if killing disabled babies in the Netherlands was something new. But Dutch doctors have engaged in infanticide for more than 15 years.

This is a must read article - the full text is here.

HT: Partnership for Medical Ethics Reform

Posted by plb at March 27, 2006 10:09 AM

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Prior Articles:

Mexico Lures Boomers with "Eutho-tourism" - Jun 05, 2008
Former SS Doctor accused of euthanasia honored by German medical group - May 27, 2008
Jack Kevorkian has a new fan - Mar 26, 2008
Australian Ends Life with Homemade "Suicide Robot" - Mar 19, 2008
Call for Action - Save Lauren Richardson! - Feb 02, 2008
The Sad Truth - Feb 01, 2008
Do not remove Lauren's feeding tube - Feb 01, 2008
Parents battle over life and death of daughter - Feb 01, 2008

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Comments

It isn't just babies and we ought not find fault with Europe, while
ignoring the same twisted thinking and actions in the U.S.

The Denver Post still has its "special," about the planned starvation death of 4 year old Dylan Walborn, proudly displayed in its online version.

The disabled are considered better off dead regularly in America,
to our shame.

Terri deserved better; Dylan deserved better. We must proclaim the dignity and humanity of all life from fertilization through natural death.

Posted by: Leslie Hanks on March 28, 2006 7:52 AM


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