120901 Dutch Doctor Is Convicted in Suicide Case
            By REUTERS

            MSTERDAM, Dec. 8 (Reuters) — A Dutch doctor has been convicted of 
            assisting a suicide in a test case that sought to define the limits 
            of euthanasia in the Netherlands, the first country to make the 
            practice legal.
            An appeals court in Amsterdam found the doctor, Philip Sutorius, 
            guilty on Thursday but did not give him a jail sentence, said a 
            court spokeswoman, Liesbeth Dubois.
            Supporters of assisted suicide criticized the verdict, saying that 
            it too narrowly defined the medical justification for euthanasia.
            Dr. Sutorius helped a former senator, Edward Brongersma, to take his 
            life in 1998. Mr. Brongersma was suffering from incontinence, 
            dizziness and immobility and said he was tired of life.
            "The reason he was found guilty was because he did not act for 
            medical reasons, but rather because the patient was tired of life," 
            Ms. Dubois said.
            "But the court did not sentence him because he acted out of 
            compassion for his patient and because the court viewed this as a 
            test case by the prosecutor." 
            The prosecution hopes to use the case to define the limits of 
            euthanasia under the country's laws, she said. The prosecution had 
            appealed an earlier judgment from a lower court that acquitted Dr. 
            Sutorius. That court found that the doctor had fulfilled all the 
            criteria for assisting Mr. Brongersma in ending his life.
            Although the assisted suicide took place before the law was enacted, 
            the court considered the current law in its judgment, Ms. Dubois 
            said.
            Under the new law, passed in April, doctors can still be prosecuted 
            if they fail to follow strict rules, which say that an adult patient 
            must make a voluntary, well-considered and lasting request to die.
            A patient must face a future of unbearable suffering and must have 
            no reasonable alternative in order to be allowed to die. A second 
            doctor must be consulted, and the assisted suicide must be carried 
            out in a medically appropriate way.
            Dr. Sutorius has not said whether or not he will appeal.
            The Dutch Medical Federation, which represents 33,000 Dutch 
            physicians, said that although it found the court's judgment a 
            little harsh, it did not think the doctor's actions were within the 
            bounds of the law.