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I deeply love the Netherlands and the Dutch people (although they do have a few politicians that give even our most hate-filled ones a run for their money) . I have spent some time in the country and feel such kinship there. The art, the culture, the history, I soaked it up like a sponge. How can you not love a country that gave the world artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh, and icons like Audrey Hepburn and Anne Frank? I even had a personal opportunity to experience their health care system after I slipped on a rainy street and sprained my wrist. Let me tell you, if most Americans had a chance to see what's it's like to walk into a clinic, get treated and walk out without a big bill, they'd be clamoring for even better Obamacare, not cheering for its elimination.
I promise you, Rick Santorum has never been to the Netherlands. But that pesky little fact wouldn't stop him from opining forth on the dangers of being elderly in Holland. Why, aged people don't even like to go into the hospital because of the rampant euthanasia taking place. No, seriously:
Earlier this month, Santorum brought up the subject of euthanasia at a forum hosted by conservative leader James Dobson.
“They have voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands, but half the people who are euthanized every year, and it’s 10 percent of all deaths, half of those people are euthanized involuntarily in hospitals, because they are older and sick,” Santorum said. “So elderly people in the Netherlands don’t go to the hospital. They go to another country. Because they’re afraid because of budget purposes they will not come out of that hospital if they go in with sickness.”
Santorum also said some Dutch wear bracelets saying, “Don’t euthanize me.”Earlier this month, Santorum brought up the subject of euthanasia at a forum hosted by conservative leader James Dobson.
“They have voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands, but half the people who are euthanized every year, and it’s 10 percent of all deaths, half of those people are euthanized involuntarily in hospitals, because they are older and sick,” Santorum said. “So elderly people in the Netherlands don’t go to the hospital. They go to another country. Because they’re afraid because of budget purposes they will not come out of that hospital if they go in with sickness.”
Santorum also said some Dutch wear bracelets saying, “Don’t euthanize me.”
Oh holy Flying Spaghetti Monster. Isn't there some rule about bearing false witness for these fundamentalists? Because the lie after lie coming out of Santorum's mouth is guaranteeing him a nice toasty place in hell. In fact, his lies are so outrageous, the Dutch have gotten up in arms:
"Rick Santorum is an arch conservative. The most conservative of all candidates in the Republican primaries. He loathes abortion and euthanasia. So now he loathes the Netherlands. Because in the Netherlands we kill the elderly like there's no tomorrow," reads the story, according to a translation provided by BuzzFeed's Low Country correspondent, and author of a Dutch blog on American politics, Bertine Moenaff. The story quotes Santorum, before concluding: "This man is really imaginative. It would be a laughing matter, if he weren't in the race for the Republican nomination to take on Barack Obama in the race for the presidency of the most powerful country in the world."The Dutch public broadcaster Radio 1 described Santorum's remark as "fact-free politics," and the comments have gotten wide play, leading this evening's broadcast of the country's popular current-event's show De Wereld Draait Door and drawing reports all over the national media.
To be clear, the Dutch--being far more progressive than Americans--does have a voluntary euthanasia statute. Emphasis on the voluntary.
Under the Dutch law, a doctor must diagnose the illness as incurable and the patient must have full control of his or her mental faculties. The patient must voluntarily and repeatedly request the procedure, and another doctor must provide a written opinion agreeing with the diagnosis. After the death, a commission made up of a doctor, a jurist and an ethical expert also are required to verify that the requirements for euthanasia have been met.
Late last year, in the first such case, a 64-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer’s disease was euthanized, on the strength of her insisting for years that she wanted the procedure to be done.
Nevertheless, the statistics show it is still a relatively uncommon form of death. In 2010, the number of euthanasia cases reported to one of five special commissions was 3,136, according to their annual report. This was a 19 percent increase over 2009, but “this amounts to 2.3 percent of all 136,058 deaths in the Netherlands in 2010,” said Carla Bundy, spokeswoman for the Dutch embassy in Washington.
At the time of the annual report, the commissions had been able to reach conclusions in 2,667 euthanasia notifications reported to the agency and found only nine in which “the physician had not acted in accordance with the due care criteria,” the annual report said. More than 80 percent of the patients were suffering from cancer; almost 80 percent died at home.
A 2005 study by the New England Journal of Medicine found only a minimal number of the cases — 0.4 percent — in which there was an ending of life without explicit request by the patient. The study concluded the rate had actually been cut in half since the euthanasia law was passed.
How dare some ignorant, education-disdaining, science-sneering, woman-hating horse's ass like Santorum lie like that and think he deserves a shot at the highest office in the country?
He deserves to be marginalized right out of the public sphere.
