The Law: Implications of Mercy

"My mother was very ill," explained Mrs. Geertruida Postma. "A breast had been removed, she had had a cerebral hemorrhage, she was partly paralyzed, could hardly speak, had pneumonia and was deaf. Again and again she had told me and my husband, 'I want to leave this life. Please help me.' She had tried to commit suicide but she didn't succeed." Then one day in November 1971, Mrs. Postma visited the old-age home and found her mother propped in a chair, tied to the arms, because a male nurse had decided she needed to...

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