Belgium set to give children right-to-die
Print Edition
Belgium, one of the very few countries where euthanasia is legal, is expected to take the unprecedented step this week of abolishing age restrictions on who can ask to be put to death — extending the right to children for the first time.
The legislation appears to have wide support in the largely liberal country. But it has also aroused intense opposition from foes — including a list of pediatricians — and everyday people who have staged noisy street protests, fearing vulnerable children will be talked into making an irreversible choice.
Backers like Dr Gerland van Berlaer, a prominent Brussels pediatrician, believe it is the merciful thing to do. The law will be specific enough that it will apply only to teenage boys and girls who are in advanced stages of cancer or other terminal illnesses and suffering unbearable pain, he said.
Under current law, they must let nature take its course or wait until they turn 18.
“We are talking about children that are really at the end of their life. It’s not that they have months or years to go,” said Van Berlaer, chief of clinic in the pediatric critical care unit of University Hospital Brussels. They ask to be allowed to die with their dignity, he said.
Belgium’s Senate voted 50-17 on December 12 to amend the law on euthanasia so that it would apply to minors. The House of Representative was yesterday scheduled to debate whether to agree to the changes, and vote on them today. Passage is widely expected.
Though one opinion poll found 75 percent of Belgians in favor, there has been a vocal opposition.
“We are opening a door that nobody will be able to close,” Andre Leonard, archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and chairman of the Episcopal Conference of Belgium, said.
“There is a risk of very serious consequences for society in the long term,” he said.
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