Els Borst

Else "Els" Borst-Eilers (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɛlsə ˈʔɛls ˈbɔrst ˈɛilərs]; 22 March 1932 – 8 February 2014) was a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party and physician. She was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 21 December 2012.

Borst worked as a medical researcher at the

Following her retirement Borst occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director for supervisory boards for non-governmental organizations (Dutch Cancer Society, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Helen Dowling Institute, Institute for Health Services Research, National Committee for 4 and 5 May and the Brain Foundation) and as an advocate for cancer research. Borst continued to comment on political affairs as a stateswoman until her death on 8 February 2014 when she was murdered by a mentally unstable man in her home.^[1]

Early life and education

Borst attended the

In 1969, she was the head of the Bloodbank of the University Hospital of Utrecht, and in 1976, she became medical director of that hospital. In 1986, she left this position to become vice-chair of the Health Council, which she combined from 1992 with a position as professor in "evaluating medical actions" at the University of Amsterdam. In the Health Council, she chaired the committees on immunisation, genetics and medical ethics. Borst held several other positions in the medical world: she was chairperson of the College for Blood Transfusion as well as of the Committee on Research in Medical Ethics. In 1968, she joined the Democrats 66, and was active as a rank-and-file member. In 1976, for instance, when the Democrats 66 had lost nearly all its members and performed particularly bad in the polls, Borst was a volunteer in the promotion and revitalization campaign of the party, led by Jan Terlouw.

Political career

In 1994, Borst became minister of Health for the

In 2001, she implemented a law legalizing Euthanasia in the Netherlands under certain extraordinary conditions, and only when extensive protocols had been followed by the physician, and subject to an obligation of full reporting to a governing body.^[2] The law (Dutch: de Wet Toetsing levensbeëindiging en hulp bij zelfdoding, law on the legal review of euthanasia and assisted suicide) is considered her most important contribution in politics.^[3]

Other progressive decisions she is responsible for include:

• In 1994, she strengthened the rights of patients, giving them the right to information and privacy, and the explicit right to refuse treatment.
• In 1996, she implemented the law on organ donation. As a result of the law, all Dutch citizens are asked when whether they wanted to become organ donor when they are 18 years old.
• In 2001, the law on foetal tissue was passed, which legalized the scientific use of foetal tissue for medical research applications, if the parents agreed and if the foetal tissue was the result of an abortion or miscarriage.
• In 2002, she prevented xenotransplantation.
• In 2002, she gave permission to the Women on Waves group to offer pregnant women the abortion pill on board their boat, Aurora.^[4]
• She also defended the Dutch system of soft drugs.

She faced political problems preparing the Dutch medical system for the aging of the population. An important part of her reforms of the medical system was to integrate the health insurance system (which had a public and private part), achieving that all citizens would pay the same amount for the same coverage. Although her ministry's budget was drastically increased during this period, she still had to limit the budgets of the hospitals. This led to a problem of long waiting lists for simple medical procedures.^{[citation needed]} From both the political left and the political right she was criticized for what was seen as her mismanagement of the medical system.^{[citation needed]}

In the

Later life

Before the 2002 elections, she retired from political life. On 8 February 2003 she became honorary member of the

On 16 March 2017 the Court of Appeal of The Hague declared Van U. only partially unaccountable for the murders and sentenced him to eight years in prison and TBS.[1]

Decorations

Honours
Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date	Comment
	Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion	Netherlands	10 May 1989
	Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau	Netherlands	10 December 2002
Honorific Titles
Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date	Comment
	Minister of State	Netherlands	21 December 2012	Style of Excellency
Awards
Ribbon bar	Awards	Organization	Date	Comment
	Honorary Member	Democrats 66	10 February 2003

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Els Borst.

Official

• (in Dutch) Dr. E. (Els) Borst-Eilers Parlement & Politiek