Belgium's parliament votes through child euthanasia

Belgium, February 20, 2014   

    

Parliament in Belgium has passed a bill allowing euthanasia for terminally ill children without any age limit, by 86 votes to 44, with 12 abstentions.   

When, as expected, the bill is signed by the king, Belgium will become the first country in the world to remove any age limit on the practice.

It may be requested by terminally ill children who are in great pain and also have parental consent.

Opponents argue children cannot make such a difficult decision.

It is 12 years since Belgium legalised euthanasia for adults.

In the Netherlands, Belgium's northern neighbour, euthanasia is legal for children over the age of 12, if there is parental consent.

Under the Dutch conditions, a patient's request for euthanasia can be fulfilled by a doctor if the request is "voluntary and well-considered" and the patient is suffering unbearably, with no prospect of improvement.

'Immoral' law

One man in the public gallery of Belgium's parliament shouted "murderers" in French when the vote was passed, Reuters news agency reports.

Supporters of the legislation argue that in practice the law will affect an extremely small number of children, who would probably be in their teens, the BBC's Duncan Crawford reports from Brussels.

The law states a child would have to be terminally ill, face "unbearable physical suffering" and make repeated requests to die - before euthanasia is considered.

Parents, doctors and psychiatrists would have to agree before a decision is made.

Protesters have lobbied politicians against the changes.

Church leaders argued the law is immoral.

"The law says adolescents cannot make important decisions on economic or emotional issues, but suddenly they've become able to decide that someone should make them die," Brussels Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, said at a prayer vigil last week.

Some paediatricians have warned vulnerable children could be put at risk and have questioned whether a child can really be expected to make such a difficult choice.

Last week 160 Belgian paediatricians signed an open letter against the law, claiming that there was no urgent need for it and that modern medicine is capable of alleviating pain.

But opinion polls have suggested broad support for the changes in Belgium, which is mostly Catholic.

BBC

2/24/2014

See also
'Euthanasia has become fashionable': Ethics expert on the right to die 'Euthanasia has become fashionable': Ethics expert on the right to die 'Euthanasia has become fashionable': Ethics expert on the right to die 'Euthanasia has become fashionable': Ethics expert on the right to die
"It becomes a general mentality – If I'm sick, old or just don't want to live anymore, I just fill in the form and ask for euthanasia. We don't invest in palliative care anymore...it's very fashionable to ask to die in this way."
Belgian doctors open discussion of involuntary euthanasia Belgian doctors open discussion of involuntary euthanasia Belgian doctors open discussion of involuntary euthanasia Belgian doctors open discussion of involuntary euthanasia
Some doctors in Belgium have suggested discussion of legalizing euthanasia without requiring the consent of the patient.
Belgium, suffering children and euthanasia Belgium, suffering children and euthanasia Belgium, suffering children and euthanasia Belgium, suffering children and euthanasia
The Orthodox Church does not support euthanasia at all, and this elemental repugnance for practicing it on children was articulately expressed here by other religious leaders as well. Although views on the Leader’s page were both for and against euthanasia in general, the euthanasia of children causes more wavering, just as euthanasia of any human would have done before the onset of its mainstreaming.
Belgium approves law allowing euthanasia for terminally ill children Belgium approves law allowing euthanasia for terminally ill children Belgium approves law allowing euthanasia for terminally ill children Belgium approves law allowing euthanasia for terminally ill children
Belgium is already known for its very liberal approach to euthanasia in Europe, but the approval of its expansion to include children has been fiercely debated. DW looks at the arguments for and against the law.
How legal euthanasia changed Belgium for ever How legal euthanasia changed Belgium for ever How legal euthanasia changed Belgium for ever How legal euthanasia changed Belgium for ever
The ideology of absolute self-determination has become sacred and unquestionable.
Death, Dying, and Euthanasia Death, Dying, and Euthanasia
Fr. Stanley Harakas
Death, Dying, and Euthanasia Death, Dying, and Euthanasia
Fr. Stanley Harakas
Euthanasia is held by some to be morally justified and/or morally required to terminate the life of an incurably sick person. To permit a dying person to die, when there is no real expectation that life can sustain itself, and even to pray to the Authorof Life to take the life of one "struggling to die" is one thing; euthanasia is another, i.e., the active intervention to terminate the life of another.
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