October 25, 2024

Middel X (sodium azide) no longer considered a ‘humane’ death

The Coöperatie Laatste Wil (CLW) no longer calls the suicide powder drug Middel X “humane.”

That is what chairman Rob van Doorn has stated.

The organization will change the description on its own website early next week.

“We need to publish a complete package insert that addresses all side effects,” Van Doorn says.

The CLW is making that decision after research by the journalistic collective Argos.

In the podcast series the ‘Dolle Mina’s of Death’ (Dolle Mina was a Dutch feminist group founded in December 1969 that campaigned for equal rights for women. It was named after an early Dutch feminist, Wilhelmina Drucker. It was a left-wing radical feminist activist group that aimed to improve women’s rights through playful and humorous protest demonstrations), Argos examined the limits of assisted suicide and, in particular, the emergence and dispensing of Middel X.

Dolle Minas

Previous large-scale research by GGD Amsterdam and 113 Suicide Prevention, found that at least 172 people have died from similar powders since 2017.

Forensic physician Karen van den Hondel conducted the investigation with two colleagues and to do so read more than 100 autopsy reports, which describe the circumstances of someone’s death.

‘I am of the opinion that you should make everything public, so that people can decide for themselves’ says Rob van Doorn CLW president on new leaflet.

Those reports named circumstances she would not describe as humane, she explains in Dolle Mina’s of Death.

“We saw that some people were found next to their beds or in other areas of the home, such as toilet and bathroom.

That vomit or a lot of feces was regularly visible throughout the home. That sometimes there was all kinds of stuff lying around, which makes you wonder if someone was confused at the time.”

10 percent of victims ended up in the hospital. “People sometimes called 911 in a panic with complaints of being lousy, stuffy, they were very hot. Sometimes they were dizzy and nauseous.”

According to Van den Hondel, the question is what exactly defines a “humane” death. “If you ask me, that is in bed, surrounded by loved ones, without pain, fear, stroke and other unpleasant symptoms.”

Euthanasia was rejected, so “Middel X” was the only way out.

CLW was founded in 2013 with the goal of bringing a humane “last-will remedy” to market.

Within the euthanasia laws, there was insufficient room for people who saw their lives as completed but did not want to wait for a doctor’s approval.

In September 2017, CLW presented drug X on the TV program Nieuwsuur as a “readily available, inexpensive and humane substance” with which to end one’s own life. Normally, the drug is used in laboratories.

‘We need to talk to each other about the prudence of euthanasia practice’

Drug X was in the news a lot last year as several lawsuits played out from people who had provided the drug to others. The largest case was against seven members of the Last Will Cooperative. Their sentences were lower than the prosecution had demanded.

Four were acquitted of membership in a criminal organization and aiding suicide.

Two former board members were convicted, but received suspended prison sentences of twelve and four months. Another defendant died naturally shortly before sentencing.

CLW had long been aware of possible side effects of drug X. In recent years, the organization emphasized that dying with the drug was different than “in a romantic movie,” then-chairman Jos van Wijk told NRC in 2021 .

“People rattle and gurgle. They have a struggle with it.” But the emphasis was always on the humane death that Middel X would provide.

Argos

Even back in October 2017, according to Argos, Petra de Jong, then a CLW board member, acknowledged that severe symptoms could occur, such as “severe confusion, epileptic seizure, cardiac arrhythmia, rapid breathing and pulmonary edema.”

The document in which she wrote that was withheld for two years, according to Argos, and then published on the cooperative’s private website.

Although CLW says it will update the website soon, chairman Rob van Doorn still does not believe that drug X causes inhumane death.

“Anyone who has ever been to a death themselves knows that it can be ugly. That sometimes there is screaming. That’s why I think we should start calling it ‘a normal death’ from now on.” The “new insert” being worked on should be on the website next week, Van Doorn said.

“I am of the opinion that you should make everything public, so that people can decide for themselves. I like absolute openness.”