On assisted suicide

Abstract

The Dutch euthanasia law provides a set of requirements that have to be met in the case of a request for assisted suicide. Two important requirements described in this law are that the person who has requested assistance in suicide is suffering both unbearably and hopelessly. Furthermore it has to be clear that this unbearable and hopeless suffering is medically based. But how is the unbearableness and hopelessness of suffering to be assessed in the case of the elderly whose suffering consists of physical and social deterioration, loneliness of existence, a severe reduction of autonomy, the general dependency on others and a perception that life has become pointless? Does the current euthanasia law include these elderly or do we need to amend this law? The civil initiative Uit Vrije Wil has written a manifest and a proposition law in where they argue that the existing law isn't sufficient to deal with the 'existential' suffering of these elderly and therefore a new law has been written which will be more adequate in dealing with these requests for assisted suicide. In this thesis I will discuss the ethical desirability of UVW's proposals in their manifest and their proposition law.