Abstract
The number of dementia patients requesting euthanasia in the Netherlands has increased over the past five years. The issue is highly controversial. In this contribution we discuss some of the main arguments: the nature of suffering, the voluntariness of the request and the role of the physician. We argue that society has a duty to care for patients who suffer from dementia and to make their lives as good and comfortable as possible. We also argue that it can be morally acceptable for those who do not want to continue their life with dementia to choose to die. The choice can be based on good reasons.
Highlights
Life is valuable in itselfThere is an extensive philosophical debate on whether the person suffering from dementia in an advanced stage is the same person as the one at the beginning of the trajectory
The number of dementia patients requesting euthanasia in the Netherlands has increased over the past five years
We argue that society has a duty to care for patients who suffer from dementia and to make their lives as good and comfortable as possible
Summary
There is an extensive philosophical debate on whether the person suffering from dementia in an advanced stage is the same person as the one at the beginning of the trajectory. The idea of the sanctity of life, that one has no right to oppose nature and has even a duty to continue to live to the (bitter) end, or that there is value in undergoing the process of decline for yourself and/or for your significant others, is brought forward against euthanasia or assisted suicide. The term ‘natural death’ has an opaque meaning in this day and age: what is a natural death? As for the argument that there is meaning or value in undergoing the decline, isn’t that a romanticized version of the dying process? The fact that these differences are sometimes not considered can be (part of) the tragedy
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