Coming to Kindle and Smashwords

Coming to Kindle and Smashwords
November 2013

Nov 10, 2011

My neighbor Mr. Grossinger was a Treblinka survivor, Maus made him weep...

Netherlands Performs First Euthanasia On Woman With Dementia


Netherlands Fake Mountain
A woman in the Netherlands has been euthanized after a battle with advanced dementia.
The woman, who was 64, was a long-time advocate of euthanasia but was not able to give conscious consent due to her mental state, the National Post reports. It was the first euthanasia in the country performed under those circumstances.
Doctors performed the procedure in March, but Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant revealed the case this week, the Radio Netherlands World Wide reports.
Euthanasia laws in the Netherlands state the person under consideration must be in "unbearable" pain and "give authorization while in full control of his mental faculties," the National Post explains.
Doctors reviewed the case and decided to approve the procedure, according to Dutch News, who translated the original article published in Volkskrant. The woman had a document that stated her wish to die, and her family supported the decision.
In 2002, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize euthanasia, CNN reports. The procedures had been taking place under the radar for quite

APE SPEAKS.....
I have worked in health care quite a few years now. First in acute and pediatrics then in chronic and long term care. And I am constantly amazed that we do not allow pt.s at the end of life or with terminal illness the same dignity that we allow a sick dog.

   1. Pain management in severe cases is bullshit. There are just two levels. The first you are gorped and unconscious, the second you are waiting to be gorped. There is no happy medium.

2. Living wills or advance directives can and usually are overridden by family members. We can't let ol grandpa die (even though he left specfic instructions) and they slap him on a vent and insert a feeding tube and stop visiting after about a month and bedsores or pneumonia due him in after enduring the living hell of being tied to a bed with a bresthing tube down your throat.

The measure of a society is how you treat the weakest among you.  There is none weaker than a chronicly ill or infirmed that desire a quick dignified exit. Naturally in this country it has evolved in a control/political issue (remember the obsecenity of the Terri Schiavo case,it took him five days to get water to the superdome, but stoping some poor man from letting his wife exit peacefully he flew right back from vacation for that). I am not surprised that the Netherlands lead in this fashion, a country thats seems to do the right thing (humane) whenvever possible.