Illustrative picture of Czech hospital. August 26, 2009.
It is called "wild euthanasia". Doctors intentionally provide treatment that leads to patients' deaths with the aim of terminating their suffering, doctor Zdenek Kalvacha told MfD. A doctor, for instance, administers higher morphine doses to a patient dying of cancer, the daily adds.
MfD writes that some other doctors, too, admit a similar practice in Czech hospitals.
Many doctors say the rules should be specified for patients whose further medical treatment is pointless and whose death is inevitable, the daily adds.
Political parties, too, are considering drafting such rules, the paper adds.
According to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM) in May, Czechs are more tolerant of abortion than of euthanasia, and tolerance of both practices is increasing in Czech society.
Over three-fifths of the respondents said Czech law should permit euthanasia, while 27 percent disagreed with it and one in ten was undecided.
The Senate rejected the legalisation of euthanasia last September.
Senator Vaclava Domsova (Independents' Association-European Democrats/SNS-ED) submitted a bill on "dignified death" but the upper house turned it down. Its critics, mainly doctors, warned that the bill would legalise intentional killing and could be abused. [rc]
Copyright 2008 by the Czech News Agency (ČTK).
August 27, 2009
CZECH REPUBLIC: Euthanasia common in chronic cases, reports local daily
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PRAGUE, Czech Republic / Prague Daily Monitor / ČTK / August 27, 2009
Some doctors admit that euthanasia is being applied in the Czech Republic to prevent patients' suffering in hopeless cases, though it is officially illegal, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) reports Wednesday.
Illustrative picture of Czech hospital. August 26, 2009.
It is called "wild euthanasia". Doctors intentionally provide treatment that leads to patients' deaths with the aim of terminating their suffering, doctor Zdenek Kalvacha told MfD. A doctor, for instance, administers higher morphine doses to a patient dying of cancer, the daily adds.
MfD writes that some other doctors, too, admit a similar practice in Czech hospitals.
Many doctors say the rules should be specified for patients whose further medical treatment is pointless and whose death is inevitable, the daily adds.
Political parties, too, are considering drafting such rules, the paper adds.
According to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM) in May, Czechs are more tolerant of abortion than of euthanasia, and tolerance of both practices is increasing in Czech society.
Over three-fifths of the respondents said Czech law should permit euthanasia, while 27 percent disagreed with it and one in ten was undecided.
The Senate rejected the legalisation of euthanasia last September.
Senator Vaclava Domsova (Independents' Association-European Democrats/SNS-ED) submitted a bill on "dignified death" but the upper house turned it down. Its critics, mainly doctors, warned that the bill would legalise intentional killing and could be abused. [rc]
Copyright 2008 by the Czech News Agency (ČTK).
Illustrative picture of Czech hospital. August 26, 2009.
It is called "wild euthanasia". Doctors intentionally provide treatment that leads to patients' deaths with the aim of terminating their suffering, doctor Zdenek Kalvacha told MfD. A doctor, for instance, administers higher morphine doses to a patient dying of cancer, the daily adds.
MfD writes that some other doctors, too, admit a similar practice in Czech hospitals.
Many doctors say the rules should be specified for patients whose further medical treatment is pointless and whose death is inevitable, the daily adds.
Political parties, too, are considering drafting such rules, the paper adds.
According to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM) in May, Czechs are more tolerant of abortion than of euthanasia, and tolerance of both practices is increasing in Czech society.
Over three-fifths of the respondents said Czech law should permit euthanasia, while 27 percent disagreed with it and one in ten was undecided.
The Senate rejected the legalisation of euthanasia last September.
Senator Vaclava Domsova (Independents' Association-European Democrats/SNS-ED) submitted a bill on "dignified death" but the upper house turned it down. Its critics, mainly doctors, warned that the bill would legalise intentional killing and could be abused. [rc]
Copyright 2008 by the Czech News Agency (ČTK).
