Research Shows Netherlands is Euthanizing Healthy People with Autism and Intellectual Handicaps

Research Shows Netherlands is Euthanizing Healthy People with Autism and Intellectual Handicaps

New research shows that Netherlands programs have euthanized otherwise healthy individuals with autism and intellectual handicaps in recent years.

Five individuals under the age of 30, who cited autism as a factor in their decision to seek legal euthanasia, are among the cases reviewed by specialists at the U.K.’s Kingston University.

“Factors directly associated with intellectual disability and/or ASD were the sole cause of suffering described in 21% of cases and a major contributing factor in a further 42% of cases,” Kingston University’s report on the issue found.

The study noted that in many cases, doctors determined there was “no prospect of improvement” for intellectually challenged individuals because there is no treatment for their handicap.

“Reasons for the EAS [euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide] request included social isolation and loneliness (77%), lack of resilience or coping strategies (56%), lack of flexibility (rigid thinking or difficulty adapting to change) (44%) and oversensitivity to stimuli (26%). In one-third of cases, physicians noted there was ‘no prospect of improvement’ as ASD and intellectual disability are not treatable,” the study reads.

The number of people euthanized in the Netherlands since the practice was allowed is astonishing.

Between 2012 and 2021, nearly 60,000 people were killed at their own request, according to the Dutch government’s euthanasia review committee. To show how the rules are being applied and interpreted, the committee has released documents related to more than 900 of those people, most of whom were older and had conditions including cancer, Parkinson´s and ALS.

Irene Tuffrey-Wijne, a palliative care specialist at Britain´s Kingston University, and her colleagues reviewed the documents to see how Dutch doctors were dealing with euthanasia requests from people with autism or with lifelong mental impairments. They published their findings in the journal BJPsych Open in May.

Among the 900 people with publicly posted case files, 39 of them were autistic and/or intellectually disabled. A handful were elderly, but 18 of them were younger than 50.

…”There´s no doubt in my mind these people were suffering,” Tuffrey-Wijne said. “But is society really OK with sending this message, that there´s no other way to help them and it´s just better to be dead?”

Understanding the scope of the program and the decision-making processes that went into these numbers has been difficult.

Because the committee releases only select records, it’s also impossible to know the true number of people with autism or intellectual disabilities killed at their own request.

Among the eight patients cited by researchers were an autistic man in his 20s. His record said “the patient had felt unhappy since childhood,” was regularly bullied and “longed for social contacts but was unable to connect with others.” The man, who was not named, chose euthanasia after deciding that “having to live on this way for years was an abomination.”

The records also included an autistic woman in her 30s who also had borderline personality disorder. She was offered a spot in a supported living center, but her doctors said she could not maintain relationships and deemed contact with others “too difficult.”

In one-third of cases, Dutch doctors concluded autism and intellectual disabilities were untreatable and that there was “no prospect of improvement,” the researchers wrote.

Earlier this year, the Netherlands extended the euthanasia option to children under 12.

The Dutch government said that this would only apply to up to 10 children a year and only for children who have no hope of recovery and who aren’t helped by palliative care.

“The end of life for this group is the only reasonable alternative to the child’s unbearable and hopeless suffering,” said the government in a statement.

Euthanasia for adults and newborn babies with terminal illnesses was already allowed in the Netherlands, but this new rule makes the country the second in the world after Belgium to allow euthanasia of kids up to the age of 12.

The Netherlands continues to shine as an example of a country….that I would not want ours to emulate.

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