Dr. Andrea Mulligan:

I do not recall the specifics of that case right now but I think the situation in the Netherlands is that advance directives are permitted. At least in theory it is possible that it was a legitimate exercise of assisted dying. The question obviously was whether it fell within whatever the regulatory regime was at the time. When I was saying that we are really not talking about people who lack capacity, I meant a situation where the person never had capacity and expressed a will to die. We are not talking about the ward of a court situation, for example, because what happened there was that treatment was withdrawn. We are not talking about deciding to end the life of the ward of court. We are not talking about administering assisted dying to someone who lacks capacity and has never made an advance directive. Obviously, it is possible for the committee to consider that, but even the most liberal regimes do not generally go that far. If the person lacks capacity, it is only allowed because there is an advance directive in place.