Dutch Court Approves Euthanasia on Advanced Cases of Dementia (reissued)







I feel this subject is very important because I know there a lots of people that have directed or would direct if they are still well enough to have Euthanasia or assisted suicide with thie families or living will, which are are two separate things but they sometimes meet right in the middle because the first thing is to have the person or the family agree that this is the right, decent thing to do for the patient.
Of coarse just like you ask for it does not mean you are going to get assisted suicide but euthansia is more common than people realize.
I was diagnosed about 3 years ago with mild dementia. That was a long time and before I was diagnosed with results of a catscan and talkng with Neurologists to know that this failure of parts in my brain started about 9 years ago, as far as I can deduct. I was able to deduct there was something  wrong when I started working for a very technical company which I enjoyed very much but the work changed constantly as technology advanced. I was adminestering tests in a lab setting to Doctors that needed to finishd their 'steps' and segeant test for the NYC PD, And many other subjects. About 100 tests. I enjoyed the challenged but one day I started to have dificulty on the tests given to me to remain certified. Your co workers are not going to let you loose your job because you don't know an answer to a question but you know (those tests were given in a computer at the center, it would be embarrasing not to know something). What this employment did for me was to see how far my mind could go on a computer answering questions that I knew but could not remember sometimes how to log on.. So I left, not because of that but because the homophobia which put against a click of black girls and for which I had no time to fight them. The first thing would have be to Deal with the company and there would be firings eithe them or me. I had my plate full. This was during the recession of 2008. So I left, leaving doors open in case I changed my mind.

 I was a little confused of how much information my brain was loosing. Actually it was not loosing any information it was putting it under "Do Not Enter under construction" signs on certain pathways on my brain so those neons would skip it then and you could not remember. The amazing part is that the brain does not cordon off the older memories. Those stay there very lively and you enjoy talking about when you were five and your remember that vanilla ice creamor Tonka Truck mom bought. However knowing your past does not help you with new information coming in.

To close this long introduction I would love to have instructions to carry out Euthanasia if I became like for example my mom. My mom developed dementia due to being in the same situtation I find my self in but she had a series of strokes and that left her with less than five or less percent total memory. I had to do everything for help sometimes with the help of a home attendant.  Her older memory was there but in small pieces. I would never want my mom to be terminated because of that but my mom would have never agreed to that as a religious woman. Iam a different case. Now because I have problems with new memories, still I feel the fight with this failure of the brain is a draw. I don't think is winning but that alone is a win. But I think of my self at 75 if I make there and not having close family to take help take care of me, I would definetly would not be inside a brain that does not work.
When my mom had the strokes and I showed up in NYC to take care of her, most of that loving family became invisible for most parts. She had twelve kids some of which have already died.She was the head of a large family and she was left to me to deal with, imagine me the baby, non religious and outspoken. 

I appraud the Dutch in their decision to be not religious but human. We all are going to die and to just wait untill somebody is suffered enough to bring on death is not having mercy on that person but I find it cruel.

Iam Adam Gonzalez and the publisher of this 12-13 year old blog. Any comment you might have don't be shy and questions can be address at adamfoxie.blogspot.com (make sure you have the subject line filled so it wont go into junk mail). Obviously my brain still works to to keep going with this publication. If I met you today I would remeber most things about you. The name could be a problem for a while only...

An exterior view of the Supreme Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Mike Corder)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — 

The Netherlands' highest court ruled Tuesday that doctors can carry out euthanasia in patients with advanced dementia if the patient has earlier made a written directive. 

The Supreme Court ruling solidifies in law a practice that already was being carried out on rare occasions in the Netherlands.

Dutch euthanasia advocacy group NVVE welcomed the ruling, saying in a statement that the decision should help doctors "to feel strengthened and supported if they want to carry out euthanasia on a patient with dementia."


An exterior view of the Supreme Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Mike Corder)

The case before the Supreme Court revolved around a district court's acquittal last year of a doctor who in 2016 carried out euthanasia on a 74-year-old woman. Prosecutors argued at the doctor's trial in The Hague there were indications the woman might have changed her mind since she declared her wish to be euthanized in a written statement.

"The court ruled that the doctor acted with due care and was therefore not punishable," Supreme Court Judge Willem van Schendel said. "According to the Supreme Court, the court did not make any mistakes in its judgment."
Euthanasia cases among people with advanced dementia are extremely rare; at the time of last year's trial, there had been fewer than 20 cases since the procedure was legalized in 2002.

Under the Dutch law, people are eligible for euthanasia if they make a considered, voluntary request for it and if their suffering is hopelessly "unbearable." Patients can draw up a written request for it to be performed sometime in the future, in an advance directive, which should specify the conditions determining when they want it to happen.

Doctors must also seek the advice of at least one other independent physician before killing the patient.

Van Schendel said that in advanced dementia cases, doctors must pay particular attention to the legal requirement that the patient is suffering "hopelessly and unbearably" as a result of dementia.

He said that in such cases "not one, but two independent doctors" should be consulted about whether the written directive can be honored.

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This story has been corrected to show that the case was about euthanasia, not medically assisted suicide

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