Dutch authorities are drawing up protocols to allow doctors to euthanase children under 12. Euthanasia is already legal for 12-year-olds, but a new proposal would extend existing options to even younger children, including newborns, if they have an incurable illness or unbearable suffering.
News reports say that the guidelines, drawn up with the assistance of paediatrician Eduard Verhagen, of Groningen Hospital, have been under study for the past year. Dr Verhagen says that these will be strict and establish a step-by-step process which must be respected by doctors. A fundamental norm will be that an assessment from a second independent doctor will be required.
According to an official explanation of the current euthanasia law by the Dutch Justice Ministry, "it is generally assumed that minors too have the discernment to arrive at a sound and well-considered request to end their life". However, the parents of 16 and 17-year- olds must be involved in the decision-making process and their approval is required for the euthanasia of children between 12 and 16.
The Dutch study has not been widely publicised, but the head of the Italian watchdog for children's rights, Antonio Marziale, denounced any move to allow "mercy killing" for children. According to the official Italian news agency AGI, he declared that decreeing the death of a child meant the unconditional surrender of science. Other observers questioned whether young children could give informed consent to their own death.
In neighbouring Belgium, MPs from the ruling Flemish Liberal Party have introduced a bill to extend the country's recent euthanasia legislation to minors. Senators Jeannine Leduc and Paul Wille said that terminally ill children and teenagers have as much right to choose when they want to die as adults. The current Belgian euthanasia law came into effect in September 2002. ~ La Repubblica, Aug 30; Zenit, Sept 6;AGI, Aug 31; Dutch Justice Ministry; Reuters, Sept 8
22 Britons dispatched by Swiss group Dignitas
The Swiss organisation Dignitas has helped 22 British suicide tourists die over the past two years, not five as previously believed, says a campaigner for euthanasia in the UK. Ms Lesley Close, the sister of a man who paid Dignitas to help him die last year, argued that it was better for people to die at home in Britain rather than having to travel abroad. Apparently Dignitas has 557 members in the UK and according to its director, Ludwig Minelli, 20% of these are likely to take up the offer of assisted suicide. The UK is currently debating a bill on assisted dying for the terminally ill. ~ BBC, Sept 3
Dealing with the illness of companion animals
Animal medicine in the US is becoming as complex as human medicine -- and almost as expensive, according to a Washington Post feature. Author Mary Battiata reminisces about the death of her beloved 14-year-old mongrel whom she nursed through a battle with mysterious ailment. In the course of her distressing journey she discovers veterinary neurologists, veterinary brain scans, spinal taps, radiation treatment, operations under general anaesthesia and CPR -- all procedures costing hundreds and even thousands of dollars.
Vets attribute the increasing sophistication of medicine for companion animals to technological innovation and the rising status of pets in a society with many divorces and growing numbers of single-person and childless households. "A pet may be the most stabilising, permanent presence a child from a divorced home will ever experience," says one Washington vet. The nation's affection for pets is also reflected in the rising number of malpractice cases. State courts have awarded as much as US$30,000 for the pain and emotional suffering of the owners.
One example of the dedication of pet lovers is a Washington area woman who has spent more than US$25,000 on kidney transplant surgery for her cat. Veterinarian transplant surgeon Lily Aronson, of the University of Pennsylvania, who has done 75 pet organ transplants, explains why her clients are willing to spend so much. They tell themselves, "I don't drink; I don't smoke; I don't go out and blow thousands of dollars gambling in Atlantic City... So if I decide to spend my hard-earned money on my animal, that's my decision."
Another initiative for owners who cannot bear to have their animals put down is hospices for animals with chronic or terminal illness. These businesses provide pain relief for the animals and psychological counselling for their owners. ~ Washington Post, Aug 29
Italian IVF laboratory mix-up
An Italian couple are demanding compensation after a mix-up in their IVF clinic resulted in dark-skinned twins. The clinic in the city of Modena believes that a reused pipette contained the sperm of a North African man. The news came only days after a hospital in Turin decided to give two women the morning-after pill only minutes after they had been inseminated because they had received sperm from the wrong fathers.
Italian IVF doctors have asked the public to be understanding and to realise that world-wide, the number of such mistakes has been minimal. "The error must be taken into account, but I would not cry scandal," said Carlo Flamigni, the president of the Italian Society for Fertility and Sterility. "When a technique has been perfected and becomes routine, you must only expect that attention levels drop. It's the risk of our daily work, not just for doctors, but for every other profession." ~ Guardian, Sept 7
Aussies flying to US for surrogate babies
Infertile couples, single women and gay couples from Australia are paying as much as $170,000 for babies born of American surrogate mothers. According to the Sunday Telegraph, one Los Angeles fertility agency, The Egg Donor Program, has helped more than 200 Australian couple have children by finding egg donors and surrogate mothers. Another company, Egg Donation Inc, has helped gay Australian couples to have a child at a cost of $170,000 for fees and expenses. Fertile Australian women are also flying to the US where they can sell their eggs legally for up to $20,000 a cycle. ~ Sunday Telegraph, Sept 5
Singapore legalises therapeutic cloning
Singapore has joined the small group of nations which have legalised therapeutic cloning. The new law allows scientists to create human embryos for stem-cell research. They must be destroyed at 14 days. Amongst the other countries which have explicitly authorised the cloning of embryos for research are Britain, Japan and China. No companies are currently carrying out research cloning in Singapore at the moment.
MPs praised the new law for offering the prospect of cures for patients and economic benefits for Singapore. "Therapeutic cloning offers hope to victims of heart diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, spinal cord injury and other debilitating diseases," said MP Chong Weng Chiew. Another MP noted that the world market for Alzheimer's drugs is US$1.3 billion and is expected to climb to $3 billion in 2008. (The MPs' focus on Alzheimer's is odd, as scientists agree that this disease is one of the least likely to be cured with stem cell therapies when they are developed.) ~ AFP, Sept 2
Therapeutic cloning" a misnomer, says stem cell society
The term "therapeutic cloning" is a misnomer, says the International Society for Stem Cell Research, because it is not therapeutic and it is not cloning. "For a frank scientific, ethical and public debate on stem cells and their potential for medicine, accurate nomenclature is critical," it says. Instead, it suggests that the process should be called "nuclear transfer" or simply NT.
The society says that the word "cloning" is inaccurate, as the product will not be an exact copy of the organism. The egg into which the nucleus of the clone is transferred still contains maternal mitochondrial DNA. These can have an effect upon how the genes express themselves and make it virtually impossible for the resulting embryo to be an exact genetic copy. As for the word therapeutic", the society says that "it is far too early to predict therapeutic uses, and naming a technique for its hoped outcome may inadvertently offer premature hope to desperate patients and families." ~ Bio-IT World, Sept 7
IN BRIEF: Carl Wood; designer baby; Down syndrome; baldness
Australia's IVF pioneer, Professor Carl Wood, has announced that he has Alzheimer's disease. Under his direction, Monash University produced Australia's first IVF baby in 1980. His former colleague, stem cell scientist Professor Alan Trounson, said that the news motivated him to work harder to find a cure or treatment. ~ Sunday Herald Sun, Sept 5
A Northern Ireland couple have become the first to create a designer baby under new regulations in the UK. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ruled in July that embryos could be selected to provide blood cell transplants to treat sick brothers and sisters. The two-year-old son of Joe and Julie Fletcher, has a rare disease called Diamond Blackfan anaemia. Mohammed Taranissi, a London IVF doctor, plans to create 12 embryos with IVF and screen them to find a match. ~ BBC, Sept 6
More younger Australian women are aborting their Down syndrome children, researchers have found. According to statistics gathered by Dr Veronica Collins, of Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute, only a quarter of Down syndrome children now result in a live baby. ~ Sydney Morning Herald, Aug 30
American researchers have discovered hair follicle stem cells, raising the possibility of a cure for baldness, according to research published in the journal Cell. ~ Reuters, Sept 2
