Dutch Doctors Group Changes Stance on Euthanasia

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The Royal Dutch Medical Association now says it would be better for mercy-killing candidates to end their own lives instead of depending on a doctor to do it for them.

The policy revision published Friday could redefine the practice of mercy killing in the Netherlands, which has the industrialized world's most liberal policies on this matter.

The change has no binding force over doctors, but the group's guidelines form the framework of government policy. The policy shift supported by the medical association is a tacit recognition that euthanasia is still a problematic issue for doctors whose first responsibility is to heal.

Roelof Mulder, a spokesman for …