A doctor who SUPPORTS euthanasia

Dr Gerrit Kimsma, from the Netherlands, supports the option of voluntary euthanasia. He is a general practitioner, and a lecturer in medical ethics at the Free University of Amsterdam.

VOLUNTARY (adj): without being forced. Willingly.

EUTHANASIA (n): painlessly killing someone to stop more suffering.

A GENERAL PRACTITIONER is a regular doctor (not a specialist).

Dr Kimsma believes that euthanasia is not simply a question of ending someone's life. The important question is how that person's life ends. If someone can choose euthanasia, they don't have to think about the worry and the suffering only. They can also focus on the things they really want to do, like taking a last trip, or making up a fight with someone in the family, or saying goodbye. The pressure on that person becomes lighter when they know they won't have to go on suffering. Often, people who have chosen euthanasia have such peace of mind that they die naturally anyway.

GO ON ...-ing (v): continue ...-ing.

Dr Kimsma visits his patients every day in the final period of their lives. (Usually, they are at home, where most people choose to die.) He talks to them often about different treatments and ways to relieve their pain, so that they know about all the choices, not just euthanasia. "If I ended the life of a patient because I had not given good palliative care, I would feel guilty and ashamed," he said.

PALLIATIVE (adj): medical treatment which reduces suffering but does not cure.

Dr Kimsma admits that in the case of euthanasia there is a conflict between two of his goals as a doctor: the goal of saving life, and the goal of helping people who are suffering. He believes that helping people is the morally right thing to do. "My patients can be sure that I will not let them suffer unnecessarily alone. That is my goal and duty as a physician."

However, he thinks that euthanasia should never be easy for a doctor, or for a person's family, so that people do not begin to think of it as something ordinary. He says he can only continue to perform euthanasia because it is something that happens very rarely.

ADMIT (v): to accept or agree with something, especially something that is against one's general opinion.

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This extract is adapted from a longer article entitled "A Careful Death" which appeared in the April 1997 issue of the New Internationalist.