Euthanasia laws in Belgium

[MCel58]

On February 13, 2014, Belgium legalized euthanasia by lethal injection for children. By a vote of 86 to 44 with 12 abstentions, the lower house of Parliament approved the law which had previously been passed by the country’s Senate. Young children will be allowed to end their lives with the help of a doctor in the world’s most radical extension of a euthanasia law.
Under the law there is no age limit to minors who can seek a lethal injection. terminally ill and people with psychiatric illnesses such as severe depression can also seek euthanasia. This article outlines the process http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/right-die-belgium-inside-worlds-liberal-euthanasia-laws-2/
Should this be something that is considered by all countries and is it a regressive or progressive approach?

 

[ddt]

Yes, it should, IMHO. Why should an adult be able to escape the painful last stages of a terminal cancer, but a child of, say, 8 years, not? That child very well also knows what's going on by that time and his/her pain is as real.

 

[Arcade22]

No of course it shouldn't be acceptable cause it's really, really important for people to endure constant pain throughout their short lives until they have existed for some arbitrary length of time at which they are allowed to get help to end their suffering.

This is called dignity.

 

[Beerina]

Pain is one thing, but "Do you maybe wanna kill yourself?" to a child who then seeks to read from the faces of adults what they are supposed to answer? It's bad enough adults suffer from these worries.

I've seen 5 episodes of ER. 3 were the abortive attempt to add Kellie Martin to the cast. One was the death from cancer of River Song's husband, and the fifth was several years earlier where the same guy dealt with euthanasia of an old guy with cancer (I think.)

He lectured the guy on how he might wanna consider the money he might use up that might be better for the inheritance. This type of issue was not the thrust of the episode.

There are no good answers here, but the pithy arrogance of the pro-euthanasia crowd (defined, for the sake of argument, as doctor-assisted suicide, of which I agree) nevertheless does the subject a disservice.

 

[Damien Evans]

No of course it shouldn't be acceptable cause it's really, really important for people to endure constant pain throughout their short lives until they have existed for some arbitrary length of time at which they are allowed to get help to end their suffering.

This is called dignity.

At last! Sarcasm so clear even I can spot it!

 

[The Don]

Pain is one thing, but "Do you maybe wanna kill yourself?" to a child who then seeks to read from the faces of adults what they are supposed to answer? It's bad enough adults suffer from these worries.

I very much doubt whether that's the way in which the decision would be made.

I've seen 5 episodes of ER. 3 were the abortive attempt to add Kellie Martin to the cast. One was the death from cancer of River Song's husband, and the fifth was several years earlier where the same guy dealt with euthanasia of an old guy with cancer (I think.)

He lectured the guy on how he might wanna consider the money he might use up that might be better for the inheritance. This type of issue was not the thrust of the episode.

ER was a hospital drama written by people who wish to entertain (and possibly wish to push a particular point themselves), I don't think it should be used as the reference source for information on a particular medical subject.

Then again, in more enlightened countries than the U.S., the cost of end-stage care doesn't fall on the patient and their family.

There are no good answers here, but the pithy arrogance of the pro-euthanasia crowd (defined, for the sake of argument, as doctor-assisted suicide, of which I agree) nevertheless does the subject a disservice.

If there is pithy arrogance then you're right, it would do the argument disservice but then again it works both ways and I personally haven't seen it from the pro-dignity side but rather from the pro-suffering side.

 

[marplots]

I wonder if belief in an afterlife makes someone more likely to choose a ticket to the graveyard. Seems like it would, but maybe not.

 

[The Don]

I wonder if belief in an afterlife makes someone more likely to choose a ticket to the graveyard. Seems like it would, but maybe not.

It depends on what the "rules" for the afterlife are. For some, taking one's own life (or being part of a decision which ends up in one's life being taken) precludes access to the good afterlife.

 

[marplots]

It depends on what the "rules" for the afterlife are. For some, taking one's own life (or being part of a decision which ends up in one's life being taken) precludes access to the good afterlife.

There's always a "but."

 

[ddt]

Pain is one thing, but "Do you maybe wanna kill yourself?" to a child who then seeks to read from the faces of adults what they are supposed to answer? It's bad enough adults suffer from these worries.

That's not how it works. There are several conditions before a physician may assist:
1) the parents or legal guardian(s) of the minor have to approve
2) the minor patient has to be able to form a judgment
3) the physician has to have multiple talks with the patient, over a period of time, and has to be convinced that the request is made out of free will of the patient, and is considered
4) the patient has to submit their request in writing, hand-written
5) the physician also has to consult with a second physician about the permanent and hopeless character of the suffering of the patient
6) and in case of a minor, he also has to consult a children's psychiatrist or psychologist.

Here's the actual text of the law.

There's an error, BTW, in the OP, or rather, in the article linked to in the OP. Euthanasia for minors in Belgium is only permitted in case of physical suffering due to a terminal illness.

 

[caveman1917]

There's an error, BTW, in the OP, or rather, in the article linked to in the OP. Euthanasia for minors in Belgium is only permitted in case of physical suffering due to a terminal illness.

That's a bit cruel, it's basically saying to someone with a non-terminal illness: "no, you don't get to end your suffering early, because yours will last longer".

 

[Pup]

Needless to say, there have to be built-in safeguards so caregivers don't pressure patients into euthanasia to ease the caregiver's burden, but there are cases too where family members are totally focussed on keeping the patient alive as long as possible so they can stay in denial, and in the case of minors, looks like the kids are stuck.

I wonder if belief in an afterlife makes someone more likely to choose a ticket to the graveyard. Seems like it would, but maybe not.

Anecdotally, talking/writing with people dying more or less slowly in more or less pain, I don't notice that. As The Don said, there's the anti-suicide aspect, and there also doesn't seem to be any less fear of death despite the promises of heeaven or whatever.

 

[ddt]

That's a bit cruel, it's basically saying to someone with a non-terminal illness: "no, you don't get to end your suffering early, because yours will last longer".

You have a point. A minor who has unbearable suffering due to a non-lethal illness is not covered, and has to wait until they're 18 that they can request euthanasia. By contrast, the law in the Netherlands allows euthanasia from the age of 12 under the same circumstances as for adults (with the additional condition of parental consent for 12-15 year olds, and informing the parents for 16/17 year olds). This column by a Dutch medical ethicist, on the website of the Dutch AMA, puts it a bit into context. In the last ten years, there were only five requests for euthanasia for minors in the Netherlands, four by 16/17 year olds, and one by a 12-year old. So we're not talking about a very big "target group" anyways.

 

[cullennz]

I agree except for this

people with psychiatric illnesses such as severe depression can also seek euthanasia.

 

[ddt]

I agree except for this

people with psychiatric illnesses such as severe depression can also seek euthanasia.

Which is not the case, see my post #10. The OP is wrong about that.

 

[Giordano]

In almost all cases, people seeking to end their lives do not make the decision in a trivial way. This is especially true of parents making decisions that affect their children (an understatement, in fact). Yes of course there are exceptions, but it looks to me as if the actual laws in Belgium try to focus on those who choose an end of life only after they have given much thought to it, considered the alternatives carefully, and have appropriate emotional and expert support for their decision.

A current common argument against assisted suicide is that people may be influenced to commit suicide by the verbal and non-verbal clues of relatives and friends, who might benefit from such an action. This seems quite a reach to me, especially given that I am still here despite the expressed verbalizations and body language of my two children during their teenage years. More seriously- does this often happen in such a way as to fit the 6 requirements of the Belgian law?

If one doesn't feel that anyone should ever commit suicide, fine- don't.

 

[Darat]

It depends on what the "rules" for the afterlife are. For some, taking one's own life (or being part of a decision which ends up in one's life being taken) precludes access to the good afterlife.

Unless they call themselves a martyr, then they not only get to die but usual get a promotion in the afterlife.

 

[The Don]

Unless they call themselves a martyr, then they not only get to die but usual get a promotion in the afterlife.

Good point, but I'm not aware of too many martyrs who:

• Killed themselves deliberately
• Didn't take some of the infidel with them

I suppose that's that Catholic saint (Catherine of something ?) who basically starved herself to death but that's about it.

 

[Wolfman]

Good point, but I'm not aware of too many martyrs who:

• Killed themselves deliberately
• Didn't take some of the infidel with them

I suppose that's that Catholic saint (Catherine of something ?) who basically starved herself to death but that's about it.

In Western culture, that would likely be more true; but in Eastern culture, it's far more common. Buddhism, for example, has a long tradition of people martyring themselves as an act of deliberate political protest, usually either by drowning, or by self-immolation. In China, we've seen both Falun Gong adherents and Tibetan Buddhist monks who've set themselves on fire as acts of protest against the government.

 

[caveman1917]

In China, we've seen both Falun Gong adherents and Tibetan Buddhist monks who've set themselves on fire as acts of protest against the government.

The first Rage Against the Machine album used an iconic photograph of a monk setting himself on fire in protest against the South Vietnamese government in 1963. Apparently someone colored it.