The number of mentally-ill patients killed by euthanasia in Holland has trebled in the space of a year, new figures have revealed.
In 2013, a total of 42 people with ‘severe psychiatric problems’ were killed by lethal injection compared to 14 in 2012 and 13 in 2011.
The latest official figures also revealed a 15 per cent surge in the number of euthanasia deaths from
4,188 cases in 2012 to 4,829 cases last year.
The incremental rise is consistent with a 13 per cent increase in 2012, an 18 per cent rise in 2011, 19 per cent in 2010 and 13 per cent in 2009.
The rise is also likely to confirm the fears of Dutch regulator Theo Boer who told the Daily Mail that he expected to see euthanasia cases smash the 6,000 barrier in 2014.
Overall, deaths by euthanasia, which officially account for three per cent of all deaths in the Netherlands, have increased by 151 per cent in just seven years.
Most cases - some 3,600 people – involved cancer sufferers but there were also 97 people who died at the hands of their doctors because they were suffering from dementia, the figures show.
The figures, however, do not include cases of so-called terminal sedation, where patients are given a cocktail of sedatives and narcotics before food and fluids are withdrawn.
Studies suggest that if such deaths were added to the figure then euthanasia would account for one in eight – about 12.3 per cent – of all deaths in the Netherlands.
Dr Peter Saunders of the Christian Medical Fellowship said the Dutch experiment proved that doctor-assisted death was impossible to effectively regulate.
‘Euthanasia in the Netherlands is way out of control,’ he said.
Don't think for a minute that this mindset is exclusively being held in the Netherlands:
The former general counsel and executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party is coming under fire for the novel solutions to the Ebola epidemic he is posting on Twitter.
The vehemently pro-life Todd Kincannon began by arguing that anyone who contracts Ebola should be summarily executed.
To add to that sickening piece of news, yesterday I read where a professed Catholic was suggesting that the Dallas Ebola victim be flown on autopilot back to Liberia to crash land. And people, including other Catholics, were applauding the suggestion.
What can you say other than God have mercy on us all.
