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James Kennedy. Een welovenrogen dood: Euthanasie in Nederland. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Bert Bakker, 2002. 248 pp. (euro)19.95 (paperbound, 90-351-2295-X). In the spring of 2002 I spent six weeks at the University of Maastricht studying the Dutch system of protections for human subjects of research. Upon my arrival, my host walked me around and introduced me to my new colleagues. In one office a rather serious scholar-a philosopher and ethicist-listened disinterestedly until my host explained the nature of my visit. He suddenly brightened and exclaimed: "At last, an American interested in ethics who is not here to study euthanasia!" Such is the plight of Dutch medical ethicists: they are overwhelmed by a flood of foreign visitors eager for a firsthand look at the regulation of euthanasia in the Netherlands. In A Well-Considered Death, James Kennedy does his best to help stem this tide by providing a sociohistorical explanation of the Dutch approach to the end of life-an approach that criminalizes euthanasia, but protects physicians from prosecution if they follow specified "due care" procedures.
According to Kennedy, the permissive rules governing euthanasia in the Netherlands grew out of the widely shared Dutch belief that controversial issues are best handled by making them "speakable" (bespreekbaar). The Dutch believe that...