Dutch court rejects challenge to assisted suicide ban

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court has upheld the Netherlands’ ban on assisted suicide. The decision issued on Wednesday is a setback for activists who say the prohibition infringes on their human right to determine when their lives end. The Hague District Court rejected the activists’ argument that the ban violated the European Convention on Human Rights. The court said the “right to decide for oneself about one’s own end of life is indeed protected” by the convention, but does not go as far as implying that “there is also a right to obtain assisted suicide.” The Netherlands was the first nation to legalize doctor-involved euthanasia, but suicide assisted by a non-physician remains illegal.