Con
Robert Young, PhD, Reader in the School of Communication, Arts, and Critical Enquiry at La Trobe University, wrote in an Aug. 27, 2008 article titled "Voluntary Euthanasia" on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy website:
“[S]ince there is nothing arbitrary about distinguishing voluntary euthanasia from non-voluntary euthanasia (because the line between them is based on clear principles), there can be no substance to the charge that only by arbitrarily drawing a line between them could non-voluntary euthanasia be avoided once voluntary euthanasia was legalized…
[The Netherlands’] legalization of voluntary euthanasia has not increased the incidence of non-voluntary euthanasia. Indeed, such studies as have been published about what happens in other countries, like Australia, where no legal protection is in place, suggest that the pattern in The Netherlands and elsewhere is quite similar. Some have argued, further, that there may be more danger of the line between voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia being blurred if euthanasia is practised in the absence of legal recognition, since there will be no transparency or monitoring…None of this is to suggest that there is no need to put in place safeguards against potential abuse of legally protected voluntary euthanasia…
[I]f the arguments given above are sound (and the Dutch experience, along with the more limited experience in the State of Oregon and in Belgium, is not only the best evidence we have that they are sound, but the only relevant evidence), that does not seem very likely.” Aug. 27, 2008