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The widely reported withdrawal of a feeding tube from the disabled and comatose [[Terri Schiavo]], with a court order prohibiting anyone from bringing her water, is an example of ''involuntary euthanasia''. The [[Texas]] Futile Care Law, which allows a medical provider to override a family's wishes and withhold lifesaving care, is another example of the legalization, in precisely circumscribed circumstances, of involuntary euthanasia.<ref>[http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/HS/content/htm/hs.002.00.000166.00.htm Texas Statute ''Advance Directives Act'']</ref>
The widely reported withdrawal of a feeding tube from the disabled and comatose [[Terri Schiavo]], with a court order prohibiting anyone from bringing her water, is an example of ''involuntary euthanasia''. The [[Texas]] Futile Care Law, which allows a medical provider to override a family's wishes and withhold lifesaving care, is another example of the legalization, in precisely circumscribed circumstances, of involuntary euthanasia.<ref>[http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/HS/content/htm/hs.002.00.000166.00.htm Texas Statute ''Advance Directives Act'']</ref>
==Studies==
Those who warn that the liberalization of laws against euthanasia will lead to involuntary killing cite studies such as the 1991 Remmelink Report, which was the first official Dutch government examination of the practice of euthanasia in the Netherlands. This report was based on medical practice throughout 1990, and was later repeated, with its findings being reported in 1996.<ref>Van der Maas PJ et al. Euthanasia and Other Decisions Concerning the End of Life. Elsevier Science Publications, Amsterdam. 1992</ref><ref>Van der Maas PJ, van ver Wal G, Haverkate I, de Graaf CML, Kester J et al. Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide and other Medical Practices Involving the End of Life in the Netherlands. 1990-1995. NEnglJMed 1996; 335: 1699-1705</ref> The report found that of the 130,000 deaths in the Netherlands each year, in over 1,000 cases physicians admitted they actively caused or hastened death without any request from the patient. While "active termination of life upon the patient's request" made only 1.8% of cases of euthanasia in the year of the study, when instances of causing death without request are added, or intentionally reducing the lives of both conscious and unconscious patients, then the actual relative frequency of euthanasia may have been up to 20% of all deaths in the year of the study.
The report revealed,
*2,300 instances of euthanasia on request;
*14% of these victims were fully competent.
*72% had never given any indication that they would want their lives terminated.
*400 of assisted suicide; 1,000 instances of life-ending actions without patient request or consent (an average of 3 per day);
*8,750 patients in whom life-sustaining treatment was withdrawn or withheld without request, 'partly with the purpose' (4,750) or 'with the explicit purpose' (4,000) of shortening life;
*8,100 cases of morphine overdose 'partly with the purpose' (6,750) or 'with the explicit purpose' (1,350) of shortening life;
*5,800 cases of withdrawing or withholding treatment on explicit request 'partly with the purpose' (4,292) or 'with the explicit purpose' (1,508) of shortening life (6).
*This indicates that there were up to 23,359 instances of doctors deciding, by commission or or omission, to hasten death.<ref>[http://www.hospicecare.com/Ethics/pollard2.htm Non-Voluntary Euthanasia] Brian Pollard, MB BS, FANZCA, Grad Cert Bioeth, Sydney, Australia</ref>
The State Commission on Euthanasia in 1987 had recommended that Non-Voluntary Euthanasia should not be an offense. In 1991 a Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) committee condoned the killing of patients in persistent coma.<ref>Keown J. The Law and Practice of Euthanasia in the Netherlands. Law Q Rev 1992; 108: 51-78</ref>
In a study by sociologists in South Australia, reported in 1994, found that 19% of doctors surveyed had deliberately ended someone's life, with their the answers revealing that in 49% of those occasions they had done so without the patient's request.<ref>Meier DE, Emmons CA, Wallenstein S, Quill T, Morrison RS, Cassel CK. A National Survey of Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the United States. NEnglJMed 1998; 338: 1193-1201. </ref>
in Belgium, a survey of deaths registered during the first four months of 1998 found that over 10% of deaths were due to euthanasia, including the use of drugs given by doctors to hasten death, "without the explicit request of the patient".<ref>BBC News. 11/24/2000, ''Doctors `help kill one in 10 Belgians''</ref>
==References==
==References==
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[[category:law]]
[[category:law]]