Dutch argue that mental torment justifies euthanasia

The Dutch attorney general has said that a psychiatrist who helped a physically fit but depressed 50 year old woman to commit suicide should not be prosecuted. The case against Dr Boudewijn Chabot, a psychiatrist from Haarlem, has been taken to the Supreme Court by the Dutch judicial authorities in order to get a legal judgment that will influence future cases. The case tests the limits of the country's new euthanasia law, which was narrowly passed in parliament's upper chamber in December. This law leaves both euthanasia and assisted suicide as criminal acts whereby …