The Dutch are calling Rick Santorum a "crazy extreme Catholic" for his views on the Netherland's euthanasia laws.  The Dutch are outraged over claims Santorum made to the Reverend James Dobson (Focus on the Family) about the practice of euthanasia in the Netherlands. 

If you're not familiar with Dutch euthanasia and assisted-suicide laws, it pays to be.  That such laws exist at all are tragic; that they're so loosely defined is chilling.  That Dutch laws could come to America is more than downright frightening. 

Along with abortion, the Dutch are in the vanguard of the West becoming completely opted-in to the "Culture of Death."

A group called the "Patients Rights Council" in Ohio summarizes the Dutch laws.  In reviewing that summary, consider these points:

The law "requires" physicians to conduct euthanasia with "due care."  The law redefines euthanasia and assisted-suicide from crimes to "medical treatments."

Incompetent patients can be euthanized having previously provided a written statement.  The written statement need not be made in conjunction with any particular medical condition. It could be a written statement made years before, based upon views that may have changed.  The physician could administer euthanasia based on the prior written statement.  [Italics added.]

Teenagers (16-18) may request euthanasia.  Parents or guardians need to be involved in the "decision process," but their approval isn't required.

Children 12-16 may request euthanasia or assisted suicide.  In this instance, parents or guardians must concur. 

A person may qualify for euthanasia or assisted suicide if the doctor "holds the conviction that the patient's suffering is lasting and unbearable." [Chapter II, Article 2, 1b]  There is no requirement that the suffering be physical or that the patient be terminally ill. [Italics added.]

Being good statists, the Dutch have councils that are involved in snuffing out human life.  Accordingly, the Dutch rely on "experts" to help determine what the "prerequisites" are "for a meaningful life."

So, the Dutch have doctors who are legally empowered to kill.  They have "experts" guiding decisions on what constitutes a meaningful life.  They're allowing kids the power to decide their own fates with "no requirement that the suffering be physical or that the patient be terminally ill."  And if a kid reaches sixteen, he can opt to say the forever "Doe-doei" (bye-bye) without caring about his parents' opinions. 

As to Santorum's claim that some Dutch elderly are scared of being euthanized against their wishes, here's a story from London's The Telegraph that corroborates his assertion ("Fearful elderly people carry 'anti-euthanasia cards'")

And from the London Mail in 2009, this headline: "Now the Dutch turn against legalised mercy killing."  Report the London Mail:

Even the architect of the controversial law [Dr Els Borst] has admitted she may have made a mistake in pushing it through because of its impact on services for the elderly.

Like proper medications and sustaining old peoples' lives according to their wishes.  The report goes on to describe pro-euthanasia forces picketing hospices in the Netherlands.  Seems that hospices interfere with peoples' right to be killed or kill themselves. 

So is Rick Santorum a "crazy extreme Catholic" for his views?  Or are the Dutch "crazy extreme" for fully embracing the West's rising death culture?