DUTCH EUTHANASIA ADVOCATE DRION DIES — Huib Drion, former Dutch supreme court justice, was a major force behind legalizing euthanasia in the Netherlands. He was 87; there was no information on the cause of death. Dutch television said he “died in his sleep”. Drion first sparked debate on mercy killings with his essay “Voluntary Death for Old People” [1991], 7 years after he retired from the high court. His complex proposal for a 2-step suicide system was summarized by the Dutch media as the “Drion Pill,” a term that remains synonymous with doctor-assisted suicide in the Netherlands today. In 2002, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize euthanasia. Drion was a prof of civil law at the Univ of Leiden, and founder of “De Geus,” a resistance newspaper published during Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during WW II. Drion never married and has no children. [22Apr04, Pro-Life E-News http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug; 21Apr04, AP, Netherlands]
