Belgium Government Official Wants Euthanasia Law Expanded to Include Minors

By Lisa Correnti | December 14, 2011

Belgium’s chairman of the Federal Committee on Euthanasia, Wim Distelmans, sent an open letter to Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo last month “asking him to re-open a national debate on euthanasia” and update the parameters that qualify a person to be euthanized. Belgium’s most aggressive pro-euthanasia advocacy group, Humanistisch-Vrijzinnige Vereniging (Humanist-Liberal Association), wants the 2002 law further liberalized to allow euthanasia to include persons with dementia and minors (under 18). A recent poll revealed that two-thirds of Belgians approve euthanasia for minors. The letter to the prime minister calls for the following:

1). At the moment, advance directives are only valid for five years. This limit should be removed.
2). Doctors who oppose euthanasia should be required to refer patients to a willing colleague.
3). Assisted suicide should be permitted.
4). It should be permitted to euthanase people with dementia who have written a living will.
5).There should be no age limit for euthanasia.
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