The Netherlands has had a problem with euthanasia without request (LAWER) and the under-reporting of euthanasia since the inception of its euthanasia law.
Every five years, the Netherlands government has commissioned a study to determine the number of deaths by medical and end-of-life decisions. The study is done by researchers who send questionnaires to physicians to determine how a random person died within a given year.
The questions seek to determine the number of deaths from all causes, including euthanasia, assisted suicide, and ending of life without explicit request. The questionnaires allow the physician to respond anonymously, and the data effectively uncovers the actual number of assisted deaths within a given year.
The Netherlands 2021 study (one year later than usual) found that there were 9,799 assisted deaths representing 9,038 euthanasia deaths, 245 assisted suicide deaths, and 517 ending of life without explicit request (LAWER).
LAWER involves the intentional ending of a person without an explicit request. I oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide but I recognize that killing someone without request or consent remains a criminal homicide in nearly every jurisdictions, even when it is tolerated.
The 2021 study indicated that there were 517 LAWER deaths in the Netherlands representing approximately 0.3 percent of all deaths.
It is important to note that six of the deaths were newborns, also known as infanticide, who would have been killed based on the Groningen protocol. Newborns with disabilities can be injected with lethal drugs in the Netherlands when a parent and doctor agree that the prospects for the child are poor or the child is considered “incompatible with life.”
As stated, the Netherlands government commissions a study every five years. The 2015 study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in an article titled: End-of-Life Decisions in the Netherlands over 25 years. The researchers published the 2015 study as a comparison to the previous studies.
The data from the 2015 study indicated that there were 7,254 assisted deaths representing 6,672 euthanasia deaths, 150 assisted suicide deaths, 431 ending of life without explicit request.
Hellbound and Down 