I find it admirable that the Dutch society offers seriously ill people, without the prospect of a cure, the possibility of being accompanied on medical care and leaving their lives painlessly. Since 2002, active euthanasia has been possible under strictly defined conditions. Since then, more than 60,000 people have used it.
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Issue 36/2019
Can we be rescued?
How much FOREST the human needs to surviveDigital Edition | Printed issues | Apps | SUBSCRIPTION
Now, however, a disturbing case is being negotiated in the Netherlands. For the first time, a female doctor involved in euthanasia is in court in The Hague - because she is a murderer after all.
In April 2016, she had stirred a sleep aid into the coffee of a 74-year-old woman with severe dementia without her knowledge. Then she wanted to do the lethal injection, but suddenly the old lady was still awake and seemed to want to ward off the syringe. The doctor took physical action against her, and a short time later, the Alzheimer's patient was dead. So, is the prosecutor's office right when she says that the doctor had insidiously and deliberately killed her patient?
When she was still in her right mind, the woman had written: As soon as she had to go to a nursing home, she wanted to be euthanized. The day before her death, the daughter states, she said in a rare bright moment, "I want to die, it's good." Her husband also supported her request. Nevertheless, she was already in the nursing home for seven weeks, until Catharina A. took care of her there - as prescribed with the participation of another doctor, who also fulfilled all conditions for legal euthanasia.
In the nursing home, however, the dementia patient had expressed contradictory. She often said she wanted to die, but sometimes she added, "but not yet." What will be the intention - the written document from better days or a badly damaged brain, which is no longer capable of any insight? The prosecution argues that Catharina A. should not have acted without direct consent. The now retired doctor, so demand the prosecutor, should be found guilty of murder - but received no penalty. Many physicians now fear that dementia patients could be excluded from euthanasia contrary to their wishes in the future. In September the verdict comes.
How would you decide? The doctor was deeply convinced that the woman suffered physically and mentally every day very hard. The Alzheimer's family saw it as well, she supports the doctor until today. Should the doctor really have refused to give her patient a death, because she could not wish him with the necessary clarity due to illness?
Best regards
Marco Evers
Feedback & suggestions?
Abstract
My reading recommendations this week
- Do men who like to watch porn incline to sexist attitudes toward women? Some feminists like Alice Schwarzer have been claiming that for years. A research team - one man, three women - has now repeatedly investigated the question. Result: quite the opposite.
- The former mountaineer Reinhold Messner, soon 75, has built a rock house in South Tyrol, a minimalist-modern cave directly on the precipice with lots of glass, concrete and views. You can find spectacular photos here.
- Many quoted researchers are important researchers. Some simply quote themselves and base much of their fame on nothing but self-praise. The journal "Nature" scourges this practice.
- More than 170 years ago, the "Franklin" expedition in the Canadian Arctic archipelago ended catastrophic: both ships sunk, all men dead. Three years ago, HMS "Terror" was found 24 meters deep. Now for the first time divers have penetrated into the breathtakingly well-preserved hull.
- Zurich researchers are developing a vaccine against cat-hair allergies. In three years he should come to the market. The special: Not the human being is vaccinated with it, but the cat.
- Supposedly US President Donald Trump is interested in breaking up hurricanes with nuclear bombs. New is this idea not - US researchers, however, have warned years ago urgently against such nonsense.
- One of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the US will close at the end of the year - not for reasons of climate protection, but because coal is simply no longer competitive. Arizona's Navajo Generating Station emitted as much carbon dioxide between 2010 and 2017 as it produces 3.3 million cars a year. Further coal-fired power plants will follow .
Elementary Particles - The Weekly Science Newsletter. Elementarteilchen is free and lands every Saturday around 10 clock in your mailbox. Subscribe to the newsletter here:
Quiz*
- What was the name of the second ship of the Franklin expedition, which had been found two years before the HMS "Terror"?
- How long is honey preserved?
- It takes eight minutes for the light to travel from the sun to the earth. How long is it going to Pluto?
* The answers can be found at the bottom of the newsletter.
Picture of the week
RoM / Getty Images
Something is missing in many gardens and houses from India to Southeast Asia: The loud "tokeh" calls of Tokeh geckos have become rare. The insectivorous reptiles are now in large numbers in the China pharmacy. Dried and powdered, they are said to help in traditional medicine against impotence, asthma, diabetes or skin ailments. Similar claims have been fatal to many species.
footnote
So far, 9,000 plastic water bottles have been purchased day by day by passengers at San Francisco International Airport. This is now over. The airport has banned the ubiquitous disposable containers. If you are thirsty, you can fill your drinking vessels with around 100 water dispensers or buy reusable bottles on site. From 2021, the airport wants to be the first garbage-free airport in the world.
MIRROR + recommendation list Science
- Environment: How man can save the forest to save himself
- Brain Research: How Does It Feel Outside Your Own Body?
- Pedagogy: Novel playgrounds are designed to promote children's creativity
* Quiz responses: HMS "Erebus" / Eternal - when the honey is kept cool, dry and in a closed container / 5.5 hours