AMSTERDAM -- Dutch television has shown unprecedented pictures of a doctor performing euthanasia at the request of a terminally ill patient.
The documentary film "Death on Request" showed Dr. Wilfred van Oijen putting his patient Cees van Wendel de Joode to sleep with a sedative and then giving him a fatal injection.
Van Wendel suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, an incurable and severely debilitating neurological condition which gained its alternative name from the publicity surrounding the protracted illness of the U.S. 1930s baseball star.
Euthanasia is formally illegal in the Netherlands but a law passed late last year laid down official guidelines for doctors to perform mercy killings at a patient's request.
Doctors are not punished if they can demonstrate that their conscience gave them no choice but to end a patient's life.
The patient must be in intolerable pain and have repeatedly asked to die. Relatives and another doctor must be consulted, conditions which were fulfilled by Van Wendel's doctor.
The Dutch justice ministry said Friday that Van Oijen would not be charged.
A ministry spokesman said the public prosecutor had decided there were no grounds for charges because the doctor had acted according to the legal guidelines.
Director Maarten Nederhorst's hour-long film, broadcast late on Thursday, tracked doctor and patient in the weeks before Van Wendel's death last March 3.
An early scene of the documentary showed Van Oijen visiting Van Wendel and his wife Anthoinette at their Amsterdam home.
The patient, confined to a wheelchair and his voice reduced to a feeble croak, explained that his condition was deteriorating fast and that he did not want to die in the hospital.
In addition to losing the use of his limbs, he said he had difficulty swallowing and breathing.
Van Wendel then began to weep loudly and the doctor stepped forward to comfort him.
"The possibility of euthanasia has been a comforting thought for me for months," Van Wendel wrote in a computer diary entry which was read aloud by a narrator.
A subsequent scene showed the doctor in somber mood, explaining his feelings as he drove his car.
"Something has been asked of me and I feel I must honor it. If I didn't, I would be letting the patient down," he said.
Van Oijen was then asked if euthanasia was not at odds with the biblical commandment which forbids killing.
"Killing is the worst thing imaginable. But it is quite different for me as a doctor to help a patient not to suffer any longer than he wants," he replied.
Towards the end of the documentary, the doctor arrived at Van Wendel's home in the evening, looking tense and anxious.
He asked his patient if he wanted more time to think his decision over. "Let's not put it off," Van Wendel replied, spelling out the words letter by letter on a board in his lap.
His wife helped her husband into bed and held his hand as the doctor gave him a first injection which he said would put him to sleep in five to 10 minutes.
She cried softly as they gazed into each other's eyes and her husband slipped slowly out of consciousness. She stroked his arm, kissed his cheek, sobbed and left the room.
Anthoinette then returned and held her husband's hand again as the doctor gave him a second injection, a muscle relaxant to stop his lungs and heart from working.
Van Oijen also held his patient's hand and put his other arm around Van Wendel's wife to comfort her.
"He's not breathing any more, it's over," she sighed, then she left the bedroom, sat down and wept.
The final scenes showed Van Oijen looking on blankly as he told the coroner what had happened, then driving home exhausted just before midnight.
He said he performed euthanasia three or four times a year and provided a second medical opinion in a similar number of cases each year.
The documentary film "Death on Request" showed Dr. Wilfred van Oijen putting his patient Cees van Wendel de Joode to sleep with a sedative and then giving him a fatal injection.
Van Wendel suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, an incurable and severely debilitating neurological condition which gained its alternative name from the publicity surrounding the protracted illness of the U.S. 1930s baseball star.
Euthanasia is formally illegal in the Netherlands but a law passed late last year laid down official guidelines for doctors to perform mercy killings at a patient's request.
Doctors are not punished if they can demonstrate that their conscience gave them no choice but to end a patient's life.
The patient must be in intolerable pain and have repeatedly asked to die. Relatives and another doctor must be consulted, conditions which were fulfilled by Van Wendel's doctor.
The Dutch justice ministry said Friday that Van Oijen would not be charged.
A ministry spokesman said the public prosecutor had decided there were no grounds for charges because the doctor had acted according to the legal guidelines.
Director Maarten Nederhorst's hour-long film, broadcast late on Thursday, tracked doctor and patient in the weeks before Van Wendel's death last March 3.
An early scene of the documentary showed Van Oijen visiting Van Wendel and his wife Anthoinette at their Amsterdam home.
The patient, confined to a wheelchair and his voice reduced to a feeble croak, explained that his condition was deteriorating fast and that he did not want to die in the hospital.
In addition to losing the use of his limbs, he said he had difficulty swallowing and breathing.
Van Wendel then began to weep loudly and the doctor stepped forward to comfort him.
"The possibility of euthanasia has been a comforting thought for me for months," Van Wendel wrote in a computer diary entry which was read aloud by a narrator.
A subsequent scene showed the doctor in somber mood, explaining his feelings as he drove his car.
"Something has been asked of me and I feel I must honor it. If I didn't, I would be letting the patient down," he said.
Van Oijen was then asked if euthanasia was not at odds with the biblical commandment which forbids killing.
"Killing is the worst thing imaginable. But it is quite different for me as a doctor to help a patient not to suffer any longer than he wants," he replied.
Towards the end of the documentary, the doctor arrived at Van Wendel's home in the evening, looking tense and anxious.
He asked his patient if he wanted more time to think his decision over. "Let's not put it off," Van Wendel replied, spelling out the words letter by letter on a board in his lap.
His wife helped her husband into bed and held his hand as the doctor gave him a first injection which he said would put him to sleep in five to 10 minutes.
She cried softly as they gazed into each other's eyes and her husband slipped slowly out of consciousness. She stroked his arm, kissed his cheek, sobbed and left the room.
Anthoinette then returned and held her husband's hand again as the doctor gave him a second injection, a muscle relaxant to stop his lungs and heart from working.
Van Oijen also held his patient's hand and put his other arm around Van Wendel's wife to comfort her.
"He's not breathing any more, it's over," she sighed, then she left the bedroom, sat down and wept.
The final scenes showed Van Oijen looking on blankly as he told the coroner what had happened, then driving home exhausted just before midnight.
He said he performed euthanasia three or four times a year and provided a second medical opinion in a similar number of cases each year.
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