荷蘭或準"人生完整者"安樂死
Netherlands may extend assisted dying to those who feel 'life is complete'
The Dutch government intends to draft a law that would legalise assisted suicide for people who feel they have "completed life" but are not necessarily terminally ill.
荷蘭政府計劃起草一項法案,讓那些感到"人生完整"但不一定處在絕癥晚期的人可以合法進行安樂死.
The Netherlands was the first country to legalise euthanasia, in 2002, but only for patients who were considered to be suffering unbearable pain with no hope of a cure.
2002年,荷蘭成為首個安樂死合法化的國家,但安樂死對象僅限于遭到難以忍受的疼痛折磨且沒有治愈希望的病患.
But in a letter to parliament on Wednesday, the health and justice ministers said that people who "have a well-considered opinion that their life is complete, must, under strict and careful criteria, be allowed to finish that life in a manner dignified for them".
不過,衛生部和司法部12日向議會遞交了一份文件,稱"在嚴格謹慎的評判標準下,必須允許經過深思熟慮認為自己的人生已經完整的人以有尊嚴的方式結束他們的生命."
The proposal is likely to provoke critics who say the scope of Dutch euthanasia policy has already expanded beyond its original boundaries, with "unbearable suffering" not only applying to people with terminal diseases but also to some with mental illnesses and dementia.
該提案中,不僅是晚期絕癥患者,一些精神疾病與癡呆癥患者也符合"無法忍受的折磨"這一情況,這很可能激怒那些認為該國安樂死政策范圍已經超出其最初邊界的批評人士.
The euthanasia policy has widespread backing in Dutch society, and cases have risen by double digits every year for more than a decade as more patients request it and more doctors are willing to carry it out. Euthanasia accounted for 5,516 deaths in the Netherlands in 2015, or 3.9% of all deaths nationwide.
安樂死政策在荷蘭獲得了廣泛支持,由于越來越多的病人要求安樂死,且更多的醫生愿意執行安樂死,十多年來安樂死案例每年以兩位數的速度不斷增長.2015年,荷蘭的安樂死案例為5516起,占全國死亡總人數的3.9%.
Edith Schippers, the health minister, wrote in the letter that "because the wish for a self-chosen end of life primarily occurs in the elderly, the new system will be limited to" them.
