Two members of the government’s committee on dignified death have chosen to leave the committee in protest against its one-sided focus on active euthanasia. The committee, established in the fall of 2023, aims to create a Danish model for a more dignified death. However, Dr. Emma Helledie and nurse Jesper Grud Rasmussen believe that the committee has an “unwavering” focus on developing models for active euthanasia and assisted suicide. The two members have announced their resignation in an open letter to the committee and Minister of Health Sophie Løhde (Venstre, a Danish political party).
Emma Helledie, a senior physician at the Palliative Care Unit at Aarhus University Hospital, told Kristeligt Dagblad that she cannot support the recommendations on euthanasia that the committee is working on. She stated, “I cannot endorse that the committee delivers recommendations for specific models of euthanasia. I do not believe that is the task described in the committee’s terms of reference, and it is not the task I signed up for,” Emma Helledie said.
Jesper Grud Rasmussen, a clinical nursing specialist at the Diakonissestiftelsens Hospice, explained that he and Emma Helledie have repeatedly raised their criticism within the committee without results. The committee’s terms of reference state that the work should support the government’s desire to create a Danish model for a more dignified death. In addition, the committee is to prepare a reflection paper for the government on Danes’ understanding of a dignified death.
The committee was established shortly after the Ethics Council had advised against introducing euthanasia in Denmark. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced at the People’s Meeting on Bornholm that she would like to have a debate on euthanasia in Denmark, and she herself advocates for active euthanasia. There are mainly two models of euthanasia: active euthanasia, where a doctor assists a patient’s death, and assisted suicide, where a patient takes their own life with the help of lethal medication prescribed by a doctor.