Catholic Medical Quartery Vol 76 (1) February 2026

Report

Dr Tony Cole
Retired paediatrician

I have just read a very interesting article in today's Tablet (19 July) on the situation in the Netherlands entitled "If you want euthanasia. you`ll be able to find a way to get it "

It describes the change in attitudes, goes into the effects and practices of Catholic doctors. The author, Joanna Moorhead who often writes in the Tablet also interviewed Cardinal Eijk. It discusses the change in attitudes in society and the professions.

Essentially, it turns out that once it’s legalised people who want euthanasia can get it.

Joanna Moorhead spoke to Dr Van Ittersum The Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Sui­cide (Review Procedures) Act was passed in April 2001 and took effect on 1 April 2002. In 1990 – before the law was changed – there were around 2,700 documented cases of euthanasia in the Netherlands; in 2024, that number was up to 9,958. In 2019, euthanasia was responsible for 4.2 per cent of total deaths in the Netherlands: five years later, it was 5.8 per cent – more than one in 20 of all deaths.

“The lesson for you in the UK is that euthanasia will be more common, ”Dr Van Ittersum told Joanna. “It’s become ‘normalised’ in Dutch society – and that’s an ongoing process, it’s getting more normalised all the time. So in the past it would have been unusual to say one of your relatives chose to die in this way ­ now, it’s openly discussed.”

Speaking to Joanna, regarding GPs raising the subject of euthanasia Dr Van Ittersum said, “In the beginning it was regarded as some kind of last resort – if palliative care had failed, or painkillers didn’t work. In the media in Britain now, I can see that’s the way it’s being presented. But our experience is that it becomes a regular option.” As we already know, the law has been widened to include mental illness, those who lack capacity and also children.

A story often told by myself is that of a Dutch surgeon confronted with a sigmoid volvulus who rang a colleague to ask or advice. What did you do with the last few you dealt with. The surgeon replied “Euthansisa- but this one refuses that option. “It’s something people stop questioning. They think it’s the best course of action.”

Dr van Ittersum, concluded that “in the Netherlands, if you want euthanasia, you’ll be able to find a way to get it. And if you don’t want it, it becomes expected of you.” In his view, one of the most worrying elements of the situation is that people who maybe haven’t given much thought to ending their own lives begin to see it as an “expected” option if they are diagnosed with a terminal disease.

Dr Tony Cole
Retired paediatrician.

Reference

  1. Joanna Moorhead. Assisted dying in the Netherlands – how it is now seen often as ‘the best course of action’ 16 July 2025, The Tablet.