Belgium

THE PATHOLOGIES. The Federal Commission for the Evaluation and Control of Euthanasia did not provide medical details of individual cases. It is only known that the 17-year-old suffered from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the nine-year-old was suffering from a brain tumor, while that of 11 he had cystic fibrosis.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS. The law does not provide an age limit for requesting euthanasia. A child can achieve the “good death” when: is in a state of physical or mental suffering subjectively judged to be constant and unbearable, is in a condition where death is foreseeable within a short time, is able to discern and a psychologist or psychiatrist ascertains that "what he expresses is what he understands". The request must also be free and unconditional and obtain the consent of both parents.
FREE CHOICE? Faced with these criteria, and not knowing the specific cases because the commission did not want to release the details, questions can be asked especially regarding the child suffering from cystic fibrosis. It is believable that just 11 years he freely made the choice to die, without being influenced by third parties, fully understanding what this choice entailed? It is believable that, if it has been done, the child understood what therapeutic paths he could take to avoid euthanasia?
CYSTIC FIBROSIS. Furthermore, one may also ask whether the law has been respected where it provides that death is foreseeable within a short time. According to the Italian Cystic Fibrosis League, they occur in our country 200 new cases per year. Almost today 6.000 children, adolescents and adults affected by the pathology are treated in specialized centers. According to the Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation, «Today there are more adults than children with cystic fibrosis. Statistics suggest a median life expectancy of around 40 years: these forecasts are continually improving thanks to research progress". In the United States the average life expectancy with this disease is 43 years. Furthermore, explains the Italian League, «Therapies have had notable developments in recent years. Indeed, alongside a therapy for the symptoms, we are now starting to have personalized therapies that treat the underlying defect in some forms and it is hoped that, within a few years, all genetic mutations will be curable".
«NORMALIZED EUTHANASIA». The cases vary greatly from each other, but in the absence of clinical details it is still legitimate to ask whether euthanasia was the only option for this child. In Belgium the "good death" is an increasingly common and accepted choice: if in 2004 they received the lethal injection 349 people, In the 2017 ben 2.309. As noted by a Belgian expert working at the Center for Biomedical Ethics, Chris Gastmans, «euthanasia afterwards 15 years is now something normal, it is considered a new way of dying. People in Belgium now consider euthanasia a right and believe it is a normal and good way to die.".
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