Dutch bishops' spokesman says church urging 'moral reorientation'

Published: 2004-12-08

OXFORD, England (CNS) -- A Dutch bishops' conference spokesman said the Catholic Church will continue urging a "moral reorientation in society" after confirmation that sick babies were euthanized by doctors at a leading hospital. "There's a need for rethinking about values here, and we're trying to have an impact at all levels of the debate," said the spokesman, Pieter Kohnen. Academic Hospital in Groningen, Netherlands, admitted to government prosecutors that it conducted four "mercy killings" during 2003, but had not faced legal proceedings, The Associated Press reported Nov. 30. The hospital added that it operated under guidelines permitting doctors to end the life of newborns deemed in pain from incurable illnesses such as spina bifida or suffering brain damage and deformities. In a Dec. 6 telephone interview with Catholic News Service, Kohnen said the Catholic Church, which nominally makes up a third of the Dutch population of 16 million, had not "explicitly instructed" clergy to refuse sacraments to Catholics involved in euthanasia cases, but would "uphold church teaching." Doctor-assisted suicides and "mercy killings" were legalized in the Netherlands in January 2002 for patients who are mentally alert and request death. The law requires doctors to obtain consent from a medical council, but also allows discretion when patients

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