The Netherlands has become the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia after its Senate defied thousands of protesters to vote in favour of mercy killing. The 75-seat chamber voted on April 10, 2001 voted 46 to 28 in favour of the law, recognising a practice that has already been tolerated in the Netherlands for over two decades.
Health Minister Els Borst applauded the "very careful decision", saying that it reflected the view of almost 90 percent of the Dutch population that doctors should not be prosecuted for following a patient`s wishes. The Dutch believe legalising euthanasia will clear up a fuzzy area of law which has left open the possibility of doctors being prosecuted for murder. Doctors will still face prosecution if they fail to follow strict rules. The new law insists adult patients must have made a voluntary, well-considered and lasting request to die; that they must face a future of unbearable suffering and that there must be no reasonable alternative. A second doctor must be consulted and life must be ended in a medically appropriate way.
LINGERING PROTESTS

The Netherlands has now become the only country to make mercy killing legal. The U.S. state of Oregon allows physician-assisted suicide and Australia`s Northern Territory legalised medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients in 1996, although that law was later repealed.
Belgium has agreed on a draft euthanasia law, subject to approval by parliament, to legalise the practice.
Some in The Hague were convinced legalisation could only be good, including Peter Bootsma, a counsellor for health and welfare at the Dutch embassy in Washington.
"There are a lot of US religious groups that do not agree with this law, but when you talk to people and ask them how they would feel in this situation, they recognise there may be a point and would in fact request euthanasia themselves," he said.
"DEATH TOURISTS"
Many say euthanasia is relatively common in other countries, and that it is better to codify it than have it remain underground, but the move has sparked fears of "death tourism" -- people travelling to the Netherlands for help in ending their lives. While there are no specific measures in the law to guard against this, the strict criteria Dutch doctors must follow insist on a close doctor-patient relationship, effectively preventing foreigners from getting death on demand. "Most doctors hope, some of them pray, that they will never have another euthanasia case ... I`m a doctor myself and I know all doctors have an in-built resistance to giving (euthanasia) help," said Rob Jonquiere, managing director of the Dutch Voluntary Euthanasia Society (DVES).