[Right_to_die] Prosecutor who behind the scenes enabled euthanasia laws is dead

[World right-to-die news list (nonprofit)]

DEATH OF DUTCH PROSECUTOR WHO HELPED CHANGE EUTHANASIA LAWS

On 6 July 2010 13:30, Dr A.O.A. Smook <aoa.smook at quicknet.nl> wrote from 
the Netherlands:

I just attended the cremation of Adelbert Josephus Jitta, (24-09-1938
  30-06-2008) well known by many of you.

  He was one of the most important protagonists of the Dutch law on 
euthanasia as a  member of D66, a liberal/democratic party.

  When he was a prosecutor in Alkmaar, we met each other during a meeting
about reporting euthanasia cases in our hospital. Fortunately the board 
of the hospital was not against euthanasia, because they said that it 
was a  medical decision with legal aspects. This was in the early eighties.

  It took us some time and sometimes a keen struggle to get a standard 
formal procedure, after some prosecutions in one of which he had to 
prosecute me!

When he informed about that, he said that he had asked one of his 
colleagues to handle the case and that he already had asked Eugene 
Sutorius to defend me. After two years of  uncertainty and the expense 
of 40.000 guilders, first paid by the NVVE, later by my insurance 
company, I was cleared.

And so by trial and error, we succeeded in the end to lay the foundation 
for our law in the Netherlands in 2002.

It was not an easy period for both of us, working in our totally 
different disciplines. The good thing of it was that from then on we 
could openly speak about euthanasia.

When I started as a surgeon treating patients with cancer,  we, the head
  nurse of the department and I, gave the last medication behind closed 
doors on explicit demand of the patient. It was tricky but we had a good 
feeling about it, because in this way we could carry out the last wish 
of the patient.

  After Adelbert and I started working on a new hospital euthanasia 
protocol, we once had a patient in the hospital who wanted euthanasia. 
But alas, it was during the weekend and he and his family were out 
sailing and since this  happened before the mobile telephone era I could 
not reach him. Half an hour after we had reported, as agreed,  the 
euthanasia to the local coroner, the police came bursting in the 
department.

I think, you can imagine the  dreadful shock this created on all the 
nurses, patients and family around us. Adelbert had not yet informed all 
his colleagues and other people concerned. I was completely overwhelmed 
and very angry, but after an ample  discussion and a good glass of wine, 
we could continue and refine the  protocol.

  He also was a speaker at the Maastricht conference in 1990 and at the 
WF  meeting in Melbourne. When he stepped down as a prosecutor, he 
strengthened the board of NVVE. After his retirement het  went on with 
his activities on euthanasia in the member support group of NVVE.

He was a widower for about two years now, which he found hard to accept.
When he fell ill, he could take advantage of his own success for which 
he fought for years in the end.

He will be missed not only by his family, but by many others, opponents 
and like-minded people.
		---  Aycke Smook   MD retired
              Bergen am Zee, Holland