Danish Ethics Council warns against legalizing assisted death

As lawmakers in Denmark consider legislation that would legalize assisted death, members of the Danish Ethics Council are warning against the practice. 

In a recent report, 16 out of 17 of the council members warned that because it is “in principle impossible to establish proper regulation of euthanasia,” the current laws prohibiting assisted death should not be changed. 

“The very existence of an offer of euthanasia will decisively change our ideas about old age, the coming of death, quality of life and what it means to take others into account,” they wrote in the full report. “If euthanasia becomes an option, there is too great a risk that it will become an expectation aimed at special groups in society.” 

This is not the first group to warn against legalized euthanasia. In June, the  Danish Society for Palliative Medicine released an open letter criticizing Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s support of changing the euthanasia law. 

“We do not believe that the solution to suffering is active euthanasia,” explained the society. “The company is opposed to euthanasia and does not consider euthanasia to be part of palliative medicine.”

READ: Study: Assisted suicide can be painful, prolonged and inhumane

According to CNE News, the opinion of the Ethics Council is not binding, and they serve solely in an advisory position. However, Prime Minister Frederiksen recently made waves when she indicated she would ignore their position altogether. During a speech, she said she disagreed with the position that assisted death is unethical, and said there are “many indications that many Danes feel the same way I do.”

She also noted that “neither opinion polls nor experts should decide the way forward on this issue. It must be the discussion we have with each other. Like people, as citizens.”

Still, according to The Local DK, there is a good possibility that the Council’s recommendation will sway enough parliament members to vote “no” on changing the current law. 

“The prime minister has expressed her own position, and now we need to have a discussion of the whole issue as this is a subject with a lot of ethical dilemmas,” noted Flemming Møller Mortensen, a spokesperson for the Social Democrats party.

Monika Rubin, health spokesperson for the Moderate Party, said she hopes the discussion will lead to better palliative care. “This is also about the health care system that we have today,” she said. “And as it is right now, we need to get better at pain relief.”