Euthanasia: Human Rights and Inalienability

Charter of the United Nations, Article 55 (c)

Charter of the United Nations, Article 55 (c)

Charter of the United Nations, Article 56

Parry and Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law, eds. Professor Clive Parry et al, (New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1986), 72

Sieghart Paul The International Law of Human Rights, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), 14

Simma Bruno , and Alston Philip “The Sources of Human Rights Law: Custom, Jus Cogens, and General Principles, 12 Australian Year Book of International Law (1992), 100

cited in Simma Bruno , and Alston Philip “The Sources of Human Rights Law: Custom, Jus Cogens, and General Principles, 12 Australian Year Book of International Law (1992), 102

Simma Bruno , and Alston Philip “The Sources of Human Rights Law: Custom, Jus Cogens, and General Principles, 12 Australian Year Book of International Law (1992), 107

Maryan Green N.A. International Law, 3rd ed., (London: Pitman, 1987), chapters 3 and 4

Maryan Green N.A. , 114–125

Harris D. J. Cases and Materials on International Law, (London: Sweet & Maxwell), 18

Harris D. J. Cases and Materials on International Law, (London: Sweet & Maxwell) 604

Private correspondence, January 4, 1993. Professor Shearer is the Professor of International Law at Sydney University, New South Wales, Australia

Harris D. J. op. cit., 604

Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, Statistical Office, United Nations, vol. XLIV, No. 2, February 1990

Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, Statistical Office, United Nations, vol. XLIV, No. 2, February 1990

CfDaniel Callahan's response to John Lachs in which he notes the inconsistency of Lachs having no difficulty in rejecting in principle either voluntary or involuntary slavery from a perspective of social protection, yet unable to see that euthanasia is socially harmful too. Callahan Daniel , “Ad Hominem Run Amok: A Response to John Lachs”, Journal of Clinical Ethics, 5: 1, Spring 1994, 13–15

In 1215 the English barons extracted the Magna Carta from King John. Perhaps the most notable feature of the Magna Carta was the right not to have a punishment imposed without due process of law. That right, however, only applied to “free men”.

Strauss Leo Natural Right and History, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953), 179

Hobbes Thomas Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiaticall and Civil, edited by Oakeshott M. , (Oxford: Blackwell, 1960), 64

Strauss Leo op. cit., 171

In this matter Hobbes followed the scepticism of Justus Lipsius and Michel de Montaigne who both “condemned public spiritedness and patriotism, for such feelings exposed their possessor to great danger”, a conclusion which Hobbes did not endorse, of Tuck Richard , Hobbes, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), 6–11.

Hobbes Thomas op. cit., 84

van der Maas Paul J. , Johannes , van Delden J.M. , Pijnenborg Loes , and Looman Caspar W.N. “Euthanasia and other medical decisions concerning the end of life”, The Lancet, 338: 8768, September 14, 1991, 670

Borst-Eilers Else “The Status of Physician-Administered Active Euthanasia in The Netherlands”, (Unpublished paper delivered at the Second International Conference on Health Law and Ethics, London, July 1989), and cited in John Keown, I.J. Keown, “The Law and Practice of Euthanasia in The Netherlands”, in The Law Quarterly Review, 108, January 1992, 7–8

ten Have Henk A.M.J. , and Welie Jos V.M. “Euthanasia: Normal Medical Practice?” in Hastings Center Report, 22: 2, March-April 1992, 36

Keown John “‘Dances with Data’: A Riposte”, Bioethics Research Notes, vol 6 no 1, 1994, 1

Actually, I didn't. I included only 82% of the 5,800 cases, ie 4,756 because only 82% of these patients in fact died. Cf Fleming John I “Euthanasia, The Netherlands, and Slippery Slopes”, Bioethics Research Notes Occasional Paper No. 1, June 1992, footnote 35.

van Delden Johannes JM , Pijenborg Loes , and van der Maas Paul J “Dances with Data”, Bioethics, vol 7, no 4, July 1993, 326 and see footnote 7.

van Delden Johannes JM loc. cit.

van Delden Johannes JM loc. cit. 325

Medische Beslissingen Rond Het Levenseinde - Het onderzoek voor de Commissie Onderzoek Medische Praktijk inzake Euthanasie, (The Hague, The Netherlands: Sdu Uitgeverij, 1991) [Dutch Euthanasia Survey Report] and Medische Beslissingen Rond Het Levenseinde -Rapport van de Commissie Onderzoek Medische Praktijk inzake Euthanasie. The Hague, The Netherlands: Sdu Uitgeverij, 1991)[Remmelink Report]. I am indebted to Dr. Daniel Ch. Overduin for translating the relevant sections of the two reports, thereby making the detailed evidence contained in them accessible to the English-speaking non-Dutch-speaking public.

Remmelink Report, 13

Remmelink Report, 15

Remmelink Report, 15

There were 5,8000 such cases, cf. Ibid, 15. However only 82% [ie 4,756] of these patients actually dies. Cf Dutch Euthanasia Survey Report, 63ff

There were 25,000 such cases, cf. Ibid., 69. However, only 35% (8,750 cases) were done with the intention to terminate life. Cf Ibid., 72; cf also Remmelink Report, 16

There were 22,500 patients who received overdoses of morphine, cf. Ibid., 16. 36 per cent were done with the intention to terminate life, cf Dutch Euthanasia Survey Report, 58

Dutch Survey Report, 61, Tabel 7.7. [“Besluit niet besproken”]

The Remmelink Report, 17–19

Other reviews of the evidence from the two Dutch reports supporting the present writer's analysis may be found in Richard Fenigsen, “The Report of the Dutch Governmental Committee on Euthanasia”, Issues in Law & Medicine, 7: 3, 1991, 337–344; ten Have Henk A.M.J. , and Welie Jos V.M. “Euthanasia: Normal Medical Practice?” loc. cit., 34–38

van der Maas P.J. , van Delden J.J.M. , and Pijnenborg L. Euthanasia and other Medical Decisions Concerning the End of Life, (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1992), 21

van der Maas P.J. , van Delden J.J.M. , and Pijnenborg L. Euthanasia and other Medical Decisions Concerning the End of Life, (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1992), 21

Keown John “‘Dances with Data’: A Riposte”, loc. cit. 1

Keown John “‘Dances with Data’: A Riposte”, loc. cit. 1

van Delden Johannes J.M. , Pijnenborg Loes , and van der Maas Paul J. “The Remmelink Study Two Years Later”, Hastings Center Report, November-December 1993, 26

Helga Kuhse, referring to the “‘social experiment’ with active voluntary euthanasia” currently in progress in The Netherlands, has stated that “as yet there is no evidence that this has sent Dutch society down a slippery slope.” Kuhse Helga “Euthanasia”, in A Companion to Ethics, ed Singer Peter , (Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1991), 302. The evidence cited together with I.J. Keown, loc. cit. 70–77 suggests a less encouraging conclusion should be drawn from the facts.

See footnote 46 above.

The Remmelink Report, 21 ff, Part II, par, 6 deals with “De aard van medische beslissingen rond het levenseinde.”

This stands in sharp contradistinction to the Report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection on “care for the terminally ill” [European Communities -European Parliament, Session Documents (English Edition), 30 April 1991 A3-0190/91] which contains a “Motion For a Resolution” on care for the terminally ill which refers in its preamble (“E”) to the proposal that “the right to a dignified death” be enshrined in the European Charter on the Rights of Patients. However, the emphasis in the motion itself is on palliative care, rather than on assistance in dying.

Maddocks Ian The Advertiser, (Adelaide, South Australia, November 2, 1991), 1. Professor Maddocks is the Professor of Palliative Care, Daw Park Repatriation Hospital in South Australia. He was referring to allegations that some doctors in South Australia help patients to die by lethal injection.

Alexander Morgan Capron is the Henry W. Bruce University Professor of Law and Medicine, University of Southern California, and codirector of the Pacific Center for Health Policy and Ethics.

Capron Alexander Morgan “Euthanasia in The Netherlands. American Observations”, Hastings Center Report, 22: 2, March-April 1992, 31

Capron Alexander Morgan loc. cit., 31

Keown I.J. loc. cit., 62.

Keown I.J. loc. cit., 62–63.

Keown I.J. loc. cit. 67–68.

Keown I.J. loc. cit. 67.

Pollard Brian “Medical aspects of euthanasia”, Medical Journal of Australia, 154: 9, 1991, 613–616.

Stevens Christine A. , and Hassan Riaz “Management of death, dying and euthanasia: attitudes and practices of medical practitioners in South Australia”, Journal of Medical Ethics, March 1994, vol 20 no 1, 41–46

Stevens Christine A. , and Hassan Riaz “Management of death, dying and euthanasia: attitudes and practices of medical practitioners in South Australia”, Journal of Medical Ethics, March 1994, vol 20 no 1 43

Stevens Christine A. , and Hassan Riaz “Management of death, dying and euthanasia: attitudes and practices of medical practitioners in South Australia”, Journal of Medical Ethics, March 1994, vol 20 no 1 43

Private correspondence between Dr. Brian Pollard and Dr. Christine Stevens, August 1, 1994

Private correspondence between Dr. Brian Pollard and Dr. Christine Stevens, August 1, 1994

Private correspondence between Dr. Brian Pollard and Dr. Christine Stevens, August 1, 1994