Between Saving Lives and Playing God

Recently though, AZM and other Dutch hospitals reveal plans of using PGD to diseases other than allowed, including breast cancer and cancer of the intestines, which has about 80% chance of being inherited. Under the Dutch law, this is not permissible although hospitals are allowed to make its own medical judgment.

Amidst the controversy, AZM announced that it will proceed with the embryonic selection and has already five patients in line for the process.

“We cannot promise our patients to help them on Monday and call them back on Thursday, saying that the government has changed its mind,” Joep Geraedts, head of the clinical genetics department said. “That would be neither humane nor ethical.” Other hospitals also want to follow suit.

Medical Ethics vs. Moral Beliefs

In 2006, former State Health Secretary Clemence Ross ruled out that PGD can only be allowed with diseases of 100% assurance, forcing AZM to put the implementation on hold.

Meanwhile, the strictly religious and staunch advocates of morality in Netherlands, who are also behind the campaign for the removal of coffee shops (marijuana shops) and the red light districts from the cities, have widely denounced AZM’s decision.

Labour Party’s Vice Prime Minister Wouter Bos, meanwhile said that PGD is matter of principle for Labour no less than it is for the Christian Union.

Another party, Christian Democrats has not fully dismissed the possibility of extending embryo selection, but argued for specific guidelines issued by the government.

The medical societies have also reacted to the issue. TheKoninklijke Nederlandsche Maatschappij tot bevordering der Geneeskunst (KNMG) or Royal Dutch Medical Association is worried about the apparently slow decision making of the government and said that patients should not be harmed due to this reason. KNMG added that the issue of PGD is not a political matter and should be decided by doctors and medical -ethical committees alone.

The Dutch Parliament is expected to come out with a decision before the summer recess.

As the country is awaiting verdict on a medical breakthrough that is yet again, expected to change the medical landscape of the Netherlands, the debate over the extent of science to decide on a life given by God will still remain unresolved. (with reports from www.expatica.nl)