In the debate over whether there should be a “right to die,” this distressing report proves that there is no boundary between physician-assisted suicide and physician-inflicted murder.
A government-commissioned study in the Netherlands has revealed that a significant number of patients have been euthanized without explicit patient consent, even as thousands of physician-assisted deaths go unreported.
Since the Netherlands first officially legalized euthanasia in 2002, the government has commissioned a nationwide study every five years to review end-of-life medical decisions. These studies, based on anonymous physician questionnaires, assess the frequency and nature of deaths involving euthanasia, assisted suicide, and life-ending procedures without a patient’s explicit request.
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are both forms of intentionally ending a person’s life, but they differ in who performs the final act.
Euthanasia involves a doctor or medical professional directly administering a lethal substance to cause death, typically by injection. In contrast, physician-assisted suicide occurs when a doctor provides a patient with the means to end his or her life, usually a prescription for a lethal dose of medication, who then ingests it or pushes a button to push the drug through an IV.
The most recent study, conducted in 2021 and released a year later than usual, recorded 9,799 assisted deaths. This total includes 9,038 cases of euthanasia, 245 cases of assisted suicide, and 517 deaths that were classified as life-ending acts without explicit request (known as LAWER cases). These LAWER deaths accounted for roughly 0.3 percent of all deaths that year, a Life Site News article reported.
The LAWER category refers to situations in which physicians intentionally end a life without the patient having made a direct request. Critics argue that these actions, while tolerated in some jurisdictions, remain equivalent to criminal homicide in most parts of the world.
Among the LAWER cases in 2021 were six infants who were euthanized under the Groningen Protocol. This controversial guideline allows for the euthanasia of newborns with severe disabilities when both parents and doctors agree that the child’s future is “incompatible” with life.
Comparable figures from the 2015 study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, reported 7,254 assisted deaths. This number included 6,672 euthanasia cases, 150 assisted suicides, and 431 deaths without explicit consent. The consistency in the proportion of LAWER cases over time suggests that such practices have become a standard feature of end-of-life care in the Netherlands.
In addition to concerns over consent, the studies also highlight the issue of under-reporting. While the 2021 nationwide study reported 9,799 assisted deaths, the official euthanasia report for that year listed only 7,666 cases. That discrepancy of 2,133 cases suggests that approximately 22 percent of all euthanasia or assisted suicide deaths were not officially reported.
Similar underreporting concerns have been raised in other countries that allow some form of medically assisted death. Canada, which legalized euthanasia in 2016 under its Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) law, has not yet conducted a comprehensive study to evaluate the accuracy or reporting of euthanasia cases nationwide.
Health Canada reported that 15,343 Canadians died under Medical Assistance in Dying in 2023, which is nearly 5 percent (1 in 20) of all annual deaths, marking a sharp increase of about 16 percent over the prior year of 2022. While the majority were older adults with terminal illnesses, nearly 4 percent had chronic conditions without imminent death.
In the United States, where assisted suicide is legal in a small but growing number of states, gaps in oversight exist. Oregon, the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, reported 376 deaths in 2024. However, whether the patient took the prescribed lethal medication was unknown in 178 cases. That means the state cannot confirm whether nearly half of the approved patients died from the prescribed drugs.
The Standing for Freedom Center has previously reported on rising euthanasia rates and the growing “Right to Die” movement in the United States. Physician‑assisted suicide is now legal in 10 states and Washington, D.C., and public support for such laws is growing in some parts of the country.
American citizens are also availing themselves of the right to die in other countries. In 2024, a 64-year-old American woman died using the Sarco Suicide Pod in Switzerland, which was marketed as a solution for people who wanted to have final control over their own, painless death. Swiss authorities responded by arresting several people involved, including Dr. Florian Willet, who created the device, on suspicion of aiding suicide.
Despite laws intended to ensure transparency and accountability, the normalization of assisted death may make it easier for physicians to operate outside legal boundaries. As controversy continues around assisted death laws, the findings from the Netherlands are likely to influence more conversations about the problems and ethical boundaries of end-of-life care.
When the “right to die” movement pushed to make euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide legal, critics insisted that it was a slippery slope — the “mercy killing,” they argued, wouldn’t stop with just the terminally ill but would soon expand to include first those in chronic pain and then those whose general quality of life was not up to standard.
Of course, their warning is today a reality as doctors in secular countries have been known to sign off on those whose only malady is being depressed or “unhoused.”
But there was another aspect of the slippery slope that didn’t get talked about as much: the loss of trust in the medical profession that would take hold and grow.
Doctors, after all, take an oath to “first, do no harm.” In fact, the word “physician” itself hails from the French word “fisicien,” circa 1200, which means “healer, one who practices the art of healing and of preserving health.”
Doctors are trained and expected to be healers — not first and foremost, but first and only.
Now we hear the report out of Netherlands that a growing cohort of euthanasia victims did not want to die and definitely did not sign off on it.
And what that means is that there is no boundary between physician-assisted suicide and physician-inflicted murder — and there never really was.
Once doctors started assuming the authority to not only determine when a life is no longer worth living but to actively end that life, they started to truly “play God.” And the irony is that in the same moment they are killing patients, they are actively killing their own profession.
If you’re a patient in the Netherlands or Canada, how could you possibly trust that the seemingly nice doctor who promises to do all he can to make you feel better doesn’t include euthanasia as a potential “medicine” in his treatment plan?
The truth is that, as Scripture teaches, every person is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), regardless of age, ability, or mental capacity and that He alone has the authority to decide the length of someone’s years and the hour of his or her death (Deuteronomy 32:39).
Jesus is, of course, the Great Physician. When here on earth, He modeled true compassion by healing the sick and caring for the vulnerable, not by ending suffering through death. Doctors, and Christians, are called to do the same. We are to walk with those who suffer, not discard them when life becomes difficult. Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 that God is the “Father of compassion” who comforts us in our troubles so we can comfort others.
Instead of promoting death as a solution, a moral and ethical society must advocate for better medical care, stronger support systems for the elderly and disabled, and a culture that values life at every stage. The trend of normalizing euthanasia reveals a deeper spiritual crisis: a lack of belief in God’s redemptive presence and purposes in pain.
As followers of Christ, we must resist policies that devalue life and instead champion the truth that every human being, regardless of their weakness or frailty, has God-given worth. This means speaking out in our communities, caring for those nearing the end of life, and praying for laws and leaders that reflect the heart of our Creator.
If you like this article and other content that helps you apply a biblical worldview to today’s politics and culture, consider making a donation here.
