A court has acquitted a Dutch doctor of wrongdoing for drugging and euthanizing an elderly dementia patient who may not have wanted to die.
Judges at the Hague District Court in the Netherlands resolved the three-year case on Wednesday, according to Medical Xpress. Dozens of people attending the hearing applauded after the ruling was delivered.
The Netherlands legalized physician-assisted euthanasia in 2002. The court case centered around whether the doctor did enough to ensure that the 74-year-old woman had assented to the operation the doctor put her through. The court ruled that, in certain cases, doctors do “not have to verify the current desire to die.”
“It feels good for people in the Netherlands that this is a clear view of the judges and court that it is possible to give euthanasia to a person who is not mentally competent any longer,” said Steven Pleiter of the Euthanasia Expertise Center.
Before her death, the woman had assented to euthanasia “whenever I think the time is right” but never directed a specific time. She had repeatedly denied being ready for the operation when asked.
The doctor euthanized the woman by injecting her with a lethal dose of chemicals. Before the injection, the doctor drugged her coffee without her knowledge. The doctor had her family members restrain her so he could administer the lethal concoction.
The court said that the patient’s dementia had progressed so far that she could not recognize her own reflection.
