An academic report published by the Journal of Medical Ethics has revealed worrying euthanasia spin-offs taking place in Belgium where “euthanasia is completely out of control”.
This report essentially highlights the frequency of active euthanasia performed without the patient’s consent.
“Belgian citizens should be mindful of the current situation, namely that their life may reach the point where doctors believe that it is no longer worth living and decide to euthanise the patient without any explicit desire to the contrary”, wrote Professor Raphaël Cohen-Almagor, from Hull University.
According to the report, “The safety barriers provided by law are inadequate and insufficient”. These practices are “quite simply, not followed and are even claimed unequivocally and with impunity”.
“Unrequested euthanasia broadly exceeds the few thousands of cases of euthanasia registered each year in Belgium,” declared Professor Jean-Louis Vincent, from the Belgian Intensive Care Society. “These active procedures are not reported to any commission,” he explained.
1.8% of deaths in Belgium are due to euthanasia performed without consent. In over 10 years, “not one of these cases has been forwarded to the prosecutor whereas one in 60 deaths would appear to be the outcome of unrequested euthanasia“, which, “in legal terms, constitutes murder”.
Furthermore, this practice is carried out “under the radar” and “suspicion weighs heavily on those persons responsible for controlling the law”.
Mrs. Herre means, President of the Euthanasia Control Commission is, in fact, also President of the Association pour le Droit de Mourir dans la Dignité (ADMD – Association for the Right to Die with Dignity), the principal pro-euthanasia lobby. She adopts “a militant, unequivocal language” and promotes “an increasingly flexible interpretation of the conditions for implementing euthanasia”.
According to le Figaro, in Belgium, “the euthanasia framework has proved to be a slippery slope”.
Le Figaro(Joseph Junker),19/06/2015