February 20, 2012February 20, 2012 Joe Quinn

Rick Santorum Happily Bullshits his Audience about Euthanasia in Holland

Health, Politics

Just so people know that US politicians running for (and in) public office will make shit up out of thin air and have people believe it, here’s Rick Santorum speaking about Obama ‘Healthcare’ on February 3rd, where he ‘informs’ his audience about ‘voluntary euthanasia’ in Holland (the Netherlands):

Just in case you can’t understand his blathering, here’s a transcript:

“In The Netherlands, people wear a different bracelet if you’re elder, And the bracelet is.. ‘Do Not Euthanize Me’. Because have voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands… about half the people who are euthanized every year (and it’s 10% of all deaths in The Netherlands) …. half of those people are euthanized involuntarily at hospitals because they are older and sick.

So elderly people in The Netherlands don’t go to the hospital. They go to another country. Because they are afraid, because of budget purposes, that they will not come out of that hospital.”

What Santorum seems to be doing here is playing on the apparently wide-spread belief among Americans that health-care in Europe is stuck somewhere in the 16th century (in fact it is significantly better than in the USA, as far as modern medicine goes). That’s why he’s “against” Obama and his ‘health-care’, because everyone knows ‘health-care’ is ‘socialism’ by another name and, after all, he has to be against Obama about something, right? He has to maintain the facade of there actually being any difference between these pretenders to the ceremonial throne of POTUS

The only other problem with what Santorum says is that his comments on euthanasia in Holland are complete fabrications. There are no ‘don’t euthanize me’ bracelets, 10% of deaths in Holland are not the result of euthanasia, and half of those non-existent deaths are NOT the result of ‘involuntary euthanasia. Basically, Santorum is SO wrong that he’s clearly lying consciously. Of course, these days, lies are seldom identified as such, especially the big ones that fall so easily from politicians lips. That’s why members of the audience were gasping in horror at these new ‘revelations’. ‘Revelations’ that they will surely internalise and believe and tell their friends about until it becomes a ‘known fact’ that ‘old people are killed in Dutch hospitals’. Can we all see why ‘official’ lies are so profoundly damaging to the human race? Can we see how they are, to a large extent, responsible for the fact that today we, as a race, sit on the edge of extinction?

Voluntary euthanasia was introduced in Holland in 2002. It is not possible for anyone to be euthanized on the say-so of a doctor in Holland.

The Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act allows a medical review board to suspend prosecution of doctors who performed euthanasia when each of the following conditions is fulfilled:

• the patient’s suffering is unbearable with no prospect of improvement
• the patient’s request for euthanasia must be voluntary and persist over time (the request cannot be granted when under the influence of others, psychological illness or drugs)
• the patient must be fully aware of his/her condition, prospects and options
• there must be consultation with at least one other independent doctor who needs to confirm the conditions mentioned above
• the death must be carried out in a medically appropriate fashion by the doctor or patient, in which case the doctor must be present
• the patient is at least 12 years old (patients between 12 and 16 years of age require the consent of their parents)

Euthanasia remains a criminal offense in all other cases in Holland.

In 2010, 3136 cases were officially reported of euthanasia in the sense of a physician assisting the death of a patient with either consent from the patient or from their legal guardian. That number constituted 2.1% of all deaths in Holland that year. None were ‘involuntary’ in the sense that a doctor alone decided that the patient should die. Where precisely Santorum got his “5% of all deaths were involuntary” is anyone’s guess, although the safe money is on the “he made it up” explanation. The main point here however is that the figures and statistics on euthanasia in Holland have nothing to do with Santorum’s main point – that Obama care is eeevil – because the incidence of euthanasia has no obvious correlation with the quality of the health care in Holland (or any country for that matter). So again, I am left all agog at Santorum’s willingness to try to bullshit his way to the White House. I know…I shouldn’t be surprised at all.

Santorum then goes on to speak about the good old days when abortions were done in the “shadows” by “really bad doctors”, but now “it’s just accepted and there are no moral and ethical problems [with it]”, and “this is the erosion”. So abortions carried out by good doctors in modern hospitals is an “erosion” compared to when they were carried out in shadowy back alleys by really bad doctors.

Words fail me.