Professor David Albert Jones:

The law changed in the Netherlands because of a court case. There had been advance decisions for euthanasia but the assumption was that people would be unconscious. The question then arose of someone who had dementia. The person had euthanasia and had to be restrained in order to have the lethal injection. This caused anxiety. An advance decision was in place but this person did not have capacity at the time. The person had dementia but there was no other obvious problem with their life otherwise. The problem with using advance euthanasia decisions in respect of dementia, which is a concern many people have, concerns when to take the decision about when to have the euthanasia. This decision-making seems to rest with other people. Even though dementia is a real and visceral concern for people, this kind of legislation is extremely difficult to apply with regard to dementia. If it is applied, we find ourselves in situations where it looks very different from what we think of as voluntariness.