As a former member of a euthanasia review board in the Netherlands, I have closely followed the debate surrounding Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill. In 2001, and with 15 years of experience with makeshift regulations behind us, the Netherlands became the first country to introduce a euthanasia law. In support of this law, I worked from 2005 to 2014 for the authorities in charge of monitoring euthanasia cases. I was convinced that the Dutch had found the right balance between compassion, respect for human life, and guaranteeing individual freedoms.
However, over the past two and a half decades, I have become increasingly concerned as I have witnessed the steady expansion of the euthanasia system and its eligibility criteria. A system designed to apply to comparatively rare cases was, by 2023, accounting for 5.4
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