By: Andrej Žitnik (Nova24tv.si)
Euthanasia has become one of the central political activities of the Slovenian left – it is loudly advocated for by the President of the Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar, and the President of the National Assembly, Urška Klakočar Zupančič. The authors of the law on assistance with voluntary termination of life proudly announced that they, together with a few supporters, submitted the collected signatures of voters into the legislative process today at 11:00 AM.
The authors of the proposal for the law on assistance with voluntary termination of life (ZPPKŽ), together with a group of supporters and the president of the Silver Thread Association – Association for Dignified Aging, Anita Caruso, submitted 5,513 out of 5,841 collected signatures of voters to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, demanding the start of the legislative process for the adoption of the law. They began collecting signatures on April 24th and concluded on June 22nd, 2023.
This is clearly a purely political project of the far-left nihilists, strongly supported by the institutional left, which becomes evident when analysing the speakers or those who accompanied the law with statements. Among them are the infamous Brigita Skela Savič of the Social Democrats (representative of the healthcare staff, who during the pandemic encouraged people to participate in illegal protests), one of the culprits for the deterioration of Slovenian healthcare, Dušan Keber, who still lobbies for suppliers in the healthcare sector, and “fallen” philosopher Igor Pribac, former advisor to the disgraced President Danilo Türk, who was disowned by the official politics due to allegations of sexual harassment of students.
The cult of death
The proposers of the law wrap it in the cellophane of compassion and humanity, but a cynic would say that it is a grotesque attempt to address demographic and public health issues through a more sophisticated method from 1945. Experiences from Western countries show that it essentially represents a cult of death, offering a supposed lifeline to the desperate (not necessarily those who are terminally ill) that many might grasp onto.
Experiences from abroad
Between 2012 and 2021, nearly 40 Dutch citizens who suffered from autism or intellectual disabilities lost their lives in euthanasia procedures. Out of these cases, five were under the age of 30, and the only reason for the assisted premature ending of life was autism. Many experts are therefore questioning whether the law that allows doctors to administer a lethal injection to end a patient’s life has dark and unforeseen consequences. Autistic individuals are more prone to suicidal tendencies compared to neurotypical people, but therapeutic and chemical assistance can be provided to help them.
Kasper Raus, an ethicist, and public health professor at Ghent University, argues that the structure of patients requesting assistance with suicide has significantly changed in the last two decades in both the Netherlands and Belgium, where euthanasia is also legal. Initially, euthanasia was introduced for incurable cancer patients, not for patients with autism. According to the Dutch euthanasia review commission, in the last ten years, almost 60,000 people have opted for assisted premature ending of life. The commission has revealed documentation on 900 different cases. Among these cases, 39 individuals were suffering from autism or intellectual disabilities. Out of the 39 cases, 18 were younger than 50 years old.
Recently, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that doctors can lawfully perform euthanasia on people with advanced dementia who have previously expressed their written wish to be euthanised, even if they can no longer confirm this due to their illness, which is one of the conditions for euthanasia to be carried out (people often change their minds at the last moment). This is, therefore, the first case of involuntary euthanasia in the EU.
There is also a shocking case of a young Belgian woman who was euthanised after suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (she was one of the concertgoers in Paris during a terrorist attack). She was a young, healthy woman who could probably have been helped in other ways (remember that with the correct use of therapeutic measures, post-traumatic stress disorder usually fades away over time).
Western liberals and Slovenian socialist “liberals” support death due to life circumstances.
You may find the consideration of euthanasia as a cult of death exaggerated. However, Western liberalism has been showing the ultimate goal of such “freedom” for some time. For example, a recent survey by Research Co showed that over 25 percent of Canadians support assisted suicide or euthanasia in cases such as homelessness and poverty. Of course, many homeless people seek a quick and desperate way out of their unsustainable living situation, but it is not the state’s task to create nooses for them but to help them.
Vid Mlakar, a researcher at the Faculty of Medicine in Geneva, commented on Swiss support for euthanasia (a reference often cited by proponents of the law) as follows: “A person makes such a decision based on being informed that their condition is terminal, and the healthcare system should be meticulously organised for such a procedural decision, which is not the case in Slovenia. How will you know that people are not opting for suicide because the system has failed them and there are no real options left?” Mlakar wonders and adds, “such discussions are immoral as long as people who want to live are dying on the doorsteps of hospitals, as long as there are long waiting times, as long as the Health Insurance Institute and the state healthcare system calmly ignore the pain and suffering of patients who want to live.”
“Euthanasia is cheaper than treatment”
In our country, there are many people who are not terminally ill but do not want to be a burden to their loved ones. Let’s remember that impoverished elderly citizens have to transfer their property to the state before they can receive financial assistance from the Centre for Social Work. There are many who would rather freeze and starve in winter than spend their inheritance on their descendants. How many desperate individuals will pretend to suffer unbearable pain in order to leave this life and no longer be a burden to their families?
It is important to listen to one of the Slovenian initiators of the law, Igor Pribac, who was deemed so significant by the proponents that they even quoted his statement. He shocked the Slovenian public some time ago when he said, “Euthanasia is significantly cheaper than the costs of most patients in hospitals at the end of their lives.” There is no need for conspiracy theories to understand what is at stake. Let’s believe them at their word – among other things, it is about reducing healthcare costs.