Today Belgium will become the first country in the world collecting euthanasia legislation minors without age requirement. The Chamber of Deputies will give final approval to a project that has taken years of maturation and tireless hours of parliamentary debate. Under the new law, children with incurable diseases may benefit from this right, provided that they meet strict requirements. The principal is to demonstrate the ability of discernment, a concept controversial because of the difficulty to evaluate.
"Our responsibility is to enable everyone to live and die with dignity," summed up yesterday in the House of the francophone Socialist deputy Lalieux Karen, whose party has promoted legal change. Euthanasia, which includes Belgium since 2002, is now extended to the youngest with some additional guarantees for adults. One may apply minors suffering from a terminal illness who are reporting impossible to alleviate suffering. Must apply in writing the affected himself, but shall not be subjected to euthanasia without consent of their legal representatives.
The passage by Congress of Deputies has meant minimal changes to the draft approved by the Senate, which in Belgium is the camera with legislative initiative. The suffering of the child can only be physical euthanasia for adults also contemplates the psychic and doctors must certify that, in any case, the patient would die in the short term. "The number of criteria that must be met is sufficient security to prevent abuse," he argued in the House Liberal MP Daniel Bacquelaine.
Holland was, so far, the only country that included children in the practice of euthanasia, with an age requirement set at between 12 and 18, as applicable. Belgium has gone a step further by choosing to evaluate the mental maturity of the child instead of setting a reference age. That decision, strongly contested by opponents, has fueled a debate in itself complex. " A child of seven, is truly autonomous? Who is responsible for a child? " Deputy Becg Sonja, the Flemish Christian Democrat group wondered.
To resolve the dilemma, the final text states that will be the attending physician who evaluates whether the child is able to take the decision, but it must first consult a child psychiatrist. Currently, Belgium and provides for the right to euthanasia after 15 years for emancipated youth.
The right to die attracts a large membership in Belgium, even in such sensitive cases such as minor. 74% of the population is in favor of granting this possibility, according to a survey published earlier this year by the newspaper La Libre Belgique. The debate has sparked such interest that the hearings of experts who were in the Senate were televised. This popular support is reflected in the broad spectrum of political forces that will vote today in favor: socialists, liberals and greens of the Flemish and Walloon regions, and Flemish nationalists (conservative) of the N -VA, most voted party in Belgium. "We hope that the law is applied little, but it is our duty to vote on it," argued Sarah Smeyers, the N -VA.
Opponents of the measure (Flemish and Walloon Christian Democrats and Flemish extreme right) argue that it is premature and does not enjoy sufficient consensus. " We've seen it: medical challenge us. There is no urgency to pass this law, only the election, "explained Christian Brotcorne, Francophone Christian Democrat of CdH, which has called for a new wording. The work has been accelerated in recent weeks because Belgium soon dissolve the Parliament to hold regional and federal elections on May 25.
Speaking of that questioning doctors, Deputy referred to an open letter sent in recent days 39 Belgian pediatricians to ask Members not to vote the law. "There is no public demand or the medical community to extend euthanasia to children," argued Tuesday at a press conference one of its proponents, the pediatric oncologist Stefaan Van Gool. Despite this last-minute attempt to stop the bill, most of the profession has emerged to date in favor of legal change.
The Belgian initiative to regulate the infant euthanasia stems not so much from the number of cases that occur as the difficulties encountered by physicians to make decisions in these cases end without infringing the law. One of the studies presented at the hearings which organized the Senate revealed that 40% of deaths in children with incurable diseases, the doctors decided to stop treatment that kept the child alive. Beyond minors, for which no official data, Belgium recorded each year around 1,000 cases of euthanasia, about 1% of all deaths. The cases have increased rapidly in recent years.
Tags: adopted, Belgium, euthanasia, infant