“I Wanted To Be A Doctor To Help Patients, Not Kill Them”

A Dutch doctor who has twice euthanized patients complains in the British Medical Journal of the stress that killing  causes her:

Although as a doctor I favour euthanasia, as a person I find it hard to perform. It is a great burden on my personal life and causes me extreme stress. The days before I performed my second (and so far last) euthanasia were very emotional. . . . There is also the stress of doing it right and waiting to see whether the committee decides you abided by the rules and will not prosecute.

Euthanasia law grants a patient the right to determine what is and is not psychologically and physically bearable. As a doctor I sometimes feel caught between my desire to do well and the fact that I have to be the means to a patient’s self determination. I wanted to be a doctor to help patients, not to kill them. 

Allena M Silvius general practitioner, Leyden, Netherlands

Wesley J.Smith comments, "[T]his letter illustrates a point rarely made: Euthanasia/assisted suicide isn’t ultimately about “patient choice,” but that of the doctor. If he or thinks your life not worth living, you get the poison. If not – of if it upsets the doctor’s “personal life” too much – you don’t."