Down Syndrome man is told what he costs society

How much does a person with Down Syndrome cost? That question was posed by a television show in the Netherlands called, The Last Downer.

You might answer that question by saying, “You can’t put a price on a human life.” Well, according to the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and Environment (RIVM), you can – and they have!

The video below begins with the host stating: “RIVM has, at the request of The Last Downer, calculated what the costs are to care for a ‘Downer.’ And that has not happened before. Today, Sjoerd and I will hear the result.” Sjoerd, of course, has Down Syndrome.

According to RIVM, a “Downer” costs society, €48,000 per year. In comparison, the “normal” person was said to cost €5,000 per year.

“So, you could say that Sjoerd is almost 10 times as expensive than we are,” the host continued. Sjoerd replied, “I had not expected that.” The amount was said to be similar to the cost of caring for “elderly patients with dementia.”

Robert P. George, Professor at Princeton University, responded in a tweet: “My God! People! People!!! Do you not see where this goes??? Do the Dutch who suffered under—and in many cases heroically resisted—Hitler’s domination, forget that the ‘final solution’ began with the dehumanization and eugenic killing of the handicapped?”

The chilling video can be viewed below: