'Many doctors in SA favour mercy killing'

DURBAN -- A large number of doctors in South Africa would be willing to perform euthanasia at the request of their patients once the controversial practice was legalised in the country, South African Law Commission member Willem Landman said this week.

He was speaking at a symposium on euthanasia at the 16th World Congress of Family Doctors here.

He said while there were as yet no scientific data available to indicate exactly how many doctors were in favour of euthanasia, or physician assisted suicides, informal questionnaires distributed to doctors have shown positive results.

Several doctors have received requests for euthanasia.

Landman said euthanasia was being practised in the country, although not on a large scale. Doctors kept quiet about it because it was illegal.

A few doctors had already been brought before court in highly publicised cases, but their sentences were not severe.

Former president Nelson Mandela, during his presidency, requested the law commission to investigate death assisted practices such as euthanasia. A report was completed in 1999 and draft legislation was recently handed to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

Landman said indications at this stage were that the draft legislation would not be tabled before Cabinet this year.

He said doctors, in particular general practitioners willing to perform euthanasia, did not have "murderous motives".

The fact that people asked for euthanasia also did not automatically mean they had lost their faculties. If euthanasia were legalised, it would probably only be available to a very small group of people, but people would have the comfort of being able to make the choice.

Landman said the government currently had the authority to decide if a person must die by withholding or withdrawing life support -- such as in the 1998 case of a Durban man who was refused state dialysis treatment and died shortly afterwards of kidney failure.

"If government has the authority to decide a person must die, why not let him die in a dignified manner.

"Dying is part of life and we have to contemplate different options --options which were not so different from the conventional choices."

He said the right to life had to be balanced against the right to the security of a person and control by a person over his or her own body.

In this regard legalised abortion could be seen in very much the same light.

The law commission has made three recommendations to the government on euthanasia: that it remains criminalised; that it be legalised, but that the decision is located with the patient and the personal physician; and that it be legalised, but that the decision is made by a panel of experts.

Landman said the South African situation, however, did pose certain problems for legalised euthanasia.

The country differed greatly from countries like the Netherlands which was seen as the ideal community for assisted dying. The Netherlands had been doing research on euthanasia for at least 25 years. In 1995 the country had more than 34000 requests for euthanasia.

While euthanasia was expected to be legalised in the Netherlands only next year, doctors were protected from prosecution if they followed strict regulations.

Landman said South Africa had a poor public health system, especially in rural areas, and democratic tolerance had also not yet been entrenched.

The fact that not everybody would be able to afford euthanasia did not mean it could not be made available to those who could afford it.

Cape Town doctor Zandy Rosochacki said he believed legalising euthanasia in South Africa would be premature and difficult to put into practice -- given circumstances where there was one doctor for every 40000 people in certain rural areas. Unlike countries like the Netherlands and Australia, South Africa had not yet reached a stage where euthanasia could be legalised. -- Sapa