Opinion Editorials
January 8, 2025
Why do we find it so difficult to talk about voluntary death in the Netherlands?
Opinion by Melvin Keijzer Even in a progressive city like Amsterdam, talking about death is a taboo, argues Melvin Keijzer – and about voluntary dying altogether. He argues for an open debate on self-determination. ‘Only that can reveal where the limits of autonomy should lie.’ Recently, a woman (64) in Switzerland ended her life in […]
September 8, 2024
Letter to Public Prosecutor on Milou’s Euthanasia – ‘Disgrace to Profession’
‘Letter to Public Prosecutor on Milou’s Euthanasia is a Disgrace to Profession’ writes Johan Legemaate, emeritus professor of health law at Amsterdam UMC and the University of Amsterdam. The euthanasia of a 17-year-old due to severe mental suffering may cause a heated debate. But the healthcare professionals who wrote to the OM, without knowledge of […]
May 12, 2024
Dutch Court Prosecution is Blamed for the Death of Loek de L.
This obituary was originally published in the newsletter of Cooperation Last Will organisation in the Netherlands. The author is Hans Peltenburg. Seven members of this group are currently being prosecuted for supplying sodium azide amongst themselves to their members. One of those being prosecuted was Loek de L. So now there are six… Loek died […]
April 6, 2018
Here’s Why I Invented A ‘Death Machine’ That Lets People Take Their Own Lives
Talk about “dying with dignity” has grown to a calamitous pitch in recent years. “Right to die” groups vie for supremacy, trying to show who can make the dying experience the least degrading. Who can replace the utter macabre-ness of the necessity of death with something more palatable. In this reclamation of death ― a […]
July 28, 2017
Our Aged have Earned the Right to Leave Us if They Wish
The Australian, Philip Nitschke
As the Euthanasia issue heats up again in Victoria, many in the community are wondering aloud what the fuss is all for. For some, Victoria’s proposed law will represent an historical breakthrough. Since the Northern Territory’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Act was quashed by Federal Parliament 20 years ago, Australia has led the world […]
June 25, 2017
Euthanasia by Text? Michelle Carter Case Impacts More than Free Speech
Philip Nitschke, Sydney Morning Herald
In 2014, Michelle Carter, then 17, used text messages to “encourage” her 18-year-old boyfriend Conrad Roy III to kill himself. Roy was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in his truck.While the dust is still settling from this month’s decision by a Massachusetts judge to convict the young “suicide texter” of involuntary manslaughter, the reaction […]