Transcript of EenVandaag report on Organ Donation after Euthanasia 08-04-2017 00:00 Peter Veen (ALS patient): I had hoped to achieve more in my life. But this is something I can pass on. I can leave something behind that’s valuable. 00:13 Reporter: Peter, 45 years old. He is divorced, with a son, and worked as a painter. Until the point, three years ago, when he was diagnosed with ALS, an incurable disease that is causing his muscles to stop working, one by one. 00:28 Peter Veen: I can still move my legs a little. But, the things I could do before, well, my quality of life has really gone down. You can get sentimental about it, but I’ve just been unlucky. That’s my story, nothing more and nothing less. 00:48 Reporter: The life expectancy of someone with ALS is three to five years and immediately after his diagnosis Peter takes a decision. When the time comes, he wants euthanasia and he also wants to donate his organs. 01:00 Peter Veen: It’s too late for me, but I can pass on my organs. And to me that’s a really good thing. 01:08 Reporter: Yes, is that important? 01:10 Peter Veen: Yes, that’s important to me. Because you… because I have personally experienced what it means to not have that. 01:22 Reporter: To, to have no future to look forward to. 01:25 Peter Veen: Yes, but for me there’s no solution and with the organs that are still good despite ALS I can give other people hope. 01:40 Han Mulder (general practitioner): Peter said, I really want to donate my organs after euthanasia. I thought, well that’s a good, genuine wish and I looked into it and it wasn’t possible. 01:50 Han Mulder (seen greeting patient in waiting room): Hello. 01:51 Reporter: Han Mulder, Peter’s GP, discovers a lot of resistance from the hospitals to carrying out Peter’s final wishes. Euthanasia and organ donation are two separate worlds that have contradictory requirements. When you’d expect that the doctors would be really pleased if more organs became available. 02:05 Han Mulder: Euthanasia is always a difficult and awkward topic, in hospitals too, even now. And on top of that after the euthanasia you also want to donate the organs to put two difficult, or at least controversial, procedures together. Well, that sets off all the alarm bells because they represent two different interests. The GP represents the interests of the euthanasia patient and doesn’t actually want to have to think about the consequences after that. While on the organ donation side the main concern is the interests of the receiving patient, the organ that he needs. And as you can imagine these are two very different approaches to the problem. And there are areas where these interests conflict. 02:46 Reporter: Each year euthanasia is carried out around 5500 times on average. Since 2012 only 28 people have donated their organs after euthanasia. Although the wish to donate their organs is more common among euthanasia patients. As with the terminally ill Arnold Mulder in 2015. He wanted to donate his kidneys but the hospital did not want to accommodate this wish, as his family explained on the television programme, Jinek.
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