Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Belgium King Signs Euthanasia Bill

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Yesterday the King of Belgium signed a bill allowing the use of euthanasia on chronically ill children. This highly controversial bill was passed in mid Febuary, and was awaiting the signature of the King to become in complete effect. With the passing of the bill, this makes Belgium the first country in the world to allow euthanasia with no age restrictions. The law passed the Belgium Parliament with 86 for the bill, 44 against, and 12 abstenations.

This legislation allows for children to request euthanasia if they are "in great pain' and there is no treatment available. To carry out the procedure, the child must seek permission from the doctor, parents, and psychiatrists. This makes Belgium one of two countries to allow the doctor assisted suicide under 18. The other being Netherlands with an age restriction of 12.

A controversial bill like this definetely tugs about the morality strings of politics. Do you think that children should be allowed to make this decision? Seeing as Belgium passed this bill do you think that this might lead other countries to do the same and lower, or possibly remove restrictions, completely ?

Heres some Articles

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26181615
http://rt.com/news/belgium-king-sign-euthanasia-bill-566/
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/world/europe/belgium-euthanasia-law-children/

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I’m not familiar with the political atmosphere in Belgium enough to comment on this law in context of the country, but I do think the topic of child euthanasia given Belgium’s proposed conditions is interesting to analyze on its own.

If the right to physician-assisted suicide were to be granted to adults, I’m not sure it would be just to deny that right to minors. While there are many situations where minors deserve treatment different from that of adults, I think that physician-assisted suicide is one where minors and adults should have the same right with a few different conditions. Since physician-assisted suicide is viewed as a way to end suffering caused by terminal illness, I wouldn’t want a terminally-ill child to not have the option of ending his or her life. Parental consent is obviously critical, and I think the mandatory consent of psychiatrists and doctors is wise. I’m wondering and hoping this would prevent the situation from centering on financial stress. This situation would be very different for each family involved, and I would never wish this on any family. However, in the event that a family was to be burdened by emotional suffering, I would want this option to exist if it was the wish of the child.