For the first time since a 2014 law, a minor has been euthanized at his request in Belgium, reports a Belgian newspaper. He was terminally ill with an incurable disease.
Active euthanasia was authorized in 2002 in Belgium. Since then, more than 8,750 people have had access to it, including a large proportion of patients who are not at the end of their life. But for the first time since a law passed in February 2014, a minor has requested it. This succeeded, reports the Dutch-language newspaper Het Nieuwsblad this Saturday, September 17.
The minor, whose age has not been communicated, was in the terminal phase of an incurable disease. This first was confirmed by the chairman of the Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia, Professor Wim Distelmans: “Fortunately, there are only very few children who come into consideration, but that does not mean not that we should deny them the right to a dignified death,” he explained to the Het Nieuwsblad, emphasizing that this scenario would remain exceptional and reserved for hopeless cases.
Parental consent required
Indeed, the Kingdom of Belgium is the only country in the world not to impose an age limit on this practice (unlike the Netherlands, which has set the threshold at 12 years). The minor “in capacity of discernment” must “find himself in a hopeless medical situation leading to death in the short term”. In addition, he must be confronted with “constant and unbearable physical suffering which cannot be appeased”.
On the procedural side, it is the child or the adolescent who will take the initiative of the request, then studied by a medical team and an independent psychiatrist or psychologist. However, the parents must give their consent. Due to the opposition of some pediatricians and the Catholic hierarchy, the vote in 2014 of this new right had caused a lively controversy in Belgium.. However, he was supported by a large majority of Belgians, according to a poll published in October 2013, a few months before the vote. Three-quarters of those questioned were in favor of extending this right.
Strong increase in requests in Belgium
Belgian researchers from the University of Brussels have studied all cases of euthanasia reported to the Belgian Euthanasia Control Commission over ten years. Their study, recently published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, indicates that between 2003 and 2013, 8,752 patients in psychological and physical distress asked to die. Among them, a growing number of claimants would not be end-of-life patients.
This analysis shows that each year the number of requests has increased. It went from 235 in 2003 to 1,807 in 2013, i.e. a proportion 8 times greater. The latest data from Belgian authorities indicated that in 2015, more than 2,000 patients chose to die by euthanasia.
According to the medical records of these patients, euthanasia mainly concerns people under the age of 80, and those suffering from cancer. But in ten years, the doctors who accompany euthanasia have seen an increase in requests among the over 80s, seniors living in retirement homes, patients suffering from an illness other than cancer, as well as people which were not at the end of their life.
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