Euthanasia dilemma: Dutch doctor forced patient to follow through with death wish

[True Dough]

9. Well, my own feeling

is that it's abhorrent to force a person to their death.

All of the details in this case aren't presented here but let's consider these possibilities:

1) While she had all her faculties, the woman made a declaration that she wanted to die.

2) The woman began to suffer from dementia and when the time came to assist her in her death, she no longer recalled her resolute wish to avoid a deteriorating quality of life as a result of cognitive impairment.

3) The family members present knew of her insistence, while still lucid and rational, that she did not have any desire to live as a shell of the person she once was, so they respected those wishes despite her reluctance in the moment.


Now, all that said, you can counter #2 with "she has a right to change her mind." Valid point. But it's a question of making decisions while sane/insane.

You can counter #3 with "the family's motive might have truly been to cash in on her estate, not to respect her wishes regarding quality of life." Maybe.

It's not clear cut. In such a situation myself, I would be unwilling to proceed with the euthanasia, but I can see why points 2 and 3 could be debated in some circumstances.