Belgian Constitutional Court makes it easier to kill by euthanasia.

This article was published by the National Review on October 21, 2022.

Wesley Smith

By Wesley J Smith

The headline on this Brussels Times story is says much less than it seems to: “Constitutional Court Voids Belgium’s Euthanasia Law.” 

Alas, the story about the ruling seems to indicate that the problem with the law was that it was too strictly written, rather than being a violation of fundamental rights.

In a remarkable ruling, Belgium’s Constitutional Court has declared the country’s euthanasia law to be unconstitutional and will therefore need to be modified.

The ruling does not imply that euthanasia is, or soon will be, illegal in Belgium: rather, it merely notes that key provisions of the law cannot be consistently reconciled with Belgium’s Constitution.

In its written judgment, the Court concluded that Article 3 of the current euthanasia law implies that violation of the so-called ‘procedural’ conditions for legally ending someone’s life is punishable by the same standards as the violation of so-called ‘fundamental’ conditions.

This, the Court argued, is both intuitively unreasonable — given that it implies that a doctor who violated a minor procedural condition while administering euthanasia would be technically guilty of murder — but it is also unconstitutional, insofar as it violates the principles of equality and non-discrimination enshrined by Articles 10 and 11 of the Belgian Constitution.

In other words, doctors who kill patients at their request will have to be better protected by law against prosecution — which is the kind of situation that led to this ruling:

The Court’s ruling follows that of a controversial recent legal case in the city of Dendermonde in East Flanders, in which several doctors were acquitted of the murder of Tine Nys, a 38-year-old patient who claimed to be experiencing “unbearable psychological suffering.”

The doctors’ defence counsel successfully argued that [it] was unjustifiable to accuse the doctors administering Nys’ euthanasia of murder when they had only violated a procedural condition.

Here’s the key point in the story:

Many in Belgium believe that the country’s current euthanasia law is not permissive enough, given that, among other things, it presents enormous legal barriers towards providing physician-assisted dying for those suffering from dementia.

Rather than restricting doctor-administered death, the ruling in fact means that the law will be amended to make it easier and less risky to euthanize the mentally ill, elderly couples who fear widowhood, very sick babies, the victims of botched sex-change surgeries, the chronically ill and disabled, people with PTSD, etc., with organ harvesting thrown in the deal as a plum to society.

Euthanasia legalization takes society down a one-way street towards having an ever-expanding killable caste.

Belgian Constitutional Court voids parts of the euthanasia law.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Belgian Constitutional Court declared that the country's euthanasia law is unconstitutional and must be amended. Thomas Moller-Nielsen reported for The Brussels Times on October 21 that: 

The ruling does not imply that euthanasia is, or soon will be, illegal in Belgium: rather, it merely notes that key provisions of the law cannot be consistently reconciled with Belgium's Constitution."

In its written judgment, the Court concluded that Article 3 of the current euthanasia law implies that violation of the so-called 'procedural' conditions for legally ending someone's life is punishable by the same standards as the violation of so-called 'fundamental' conditions.

Tine Nys with her sisters.

The Belgian Constitutional Court decision was based on the Tine Nys case. Nys died by euthanasia based on psychological suffering. She was approved based on being diagnosed with autism but her family states that she asked for euthanasia based on a broken love relationship.

The meaning of this decision will be explained after further analysis, but it appears that the court is suggesting that the law is too restrictive, meaning the court is stating that the violating the procedural conditions should not be punishable in the same way as ending someone's life, but rather a simple punishment for violating procedures, possibly a monetary fine.

What is crazy about this decision is that doctors have been violating the procedure of the law for years are they have not been punished. The concern was that Tine Nys was wrongfully killed, so this was more than just a procedural error.

23-year-old Belgian woman with PTSD dies by euthanasia creating a global scandal

Alex Schadenberg

Executive Director,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Shanti De Corte

Sue Reid, wrote an article in the Daily Mail on October 16 about the world-wide reaction to the euthanasia death of Shanti De Corte, the 23-year-old who died by euthanasia in Belgium in May because she was living with PTSD after a ISIS bombing attack 7 years earlier.

• Belgium euthanasia for 23-year-old PTSD ISIS Terrorist Victim (Link). 
• Belgian Neurologist challenges euthanasia death of 23-year-old with PTSD (Link).
  

Reid, reporting for the Daily Mail explains:

Yet the small country is embroiled in a huge controversy, after it emerged that a 23-year-old woman called Shanti De Corte had chosen to end her life in May this year, with the support of her middle-class parents Peter and Marielle. She was suffering from depression and ‘unbearable’ mental distress. She had never recovered from being caught up in the Isis terror bombing of Brussels airport in 2016 as she waited to board a plane to Rome on a school trip.

Shanti, who was then 17, escaped the explosion in the departure hall physically unscathed but many others were less fortunate. No fewer than 32 innocent people were killed and hundreds injured.

Shanti escaped physical injury from the terrorist attack but she continued to live with PTSD. Shanti received treatment but never recovered from the trauma. But when Shanti sought a death by euthanasia, her parents were supportive of the decision.

De Corte's death has had international ramifications. Reid explains:

The revelation that Shanti chose death because of a mental health problem, rather than as a result of suffering a painful or terminal physical disease, has now provoked Belgian prosecutors to investigate her case.

They acted after a Brussels neurologist, Paul Deltenre, complained that she was euthanised ‘prematurely’. The neurologist said there were treatments and care options that had not been tried or explored.

Whatever the truth of this, the case has led anti-euthanasia campaigners to renew claims that, if a young woman who has everything ahead of her can so easily opt to end her life by a doctor’s injection, the country’s assisted-dying law is too liberal.

Godelieve de Troyer

The article explains the state of euthanasia in several jurisdictions. Reid comments on the recent Human Rights decision concerning the euthanasia death of Godelieve de Troyer, who died by euthanasia in 2011 because she had experienced chronic depression.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) slammed the country earlier this month after a 64-year-old woman called Godelieve de Troyer, who suffered from chronic depression, persuaded doctors to euthanise her without the knowledge of her family.

In a damning judgment, the ECHR ruled that the country’s federal euthanasia commission had violated Godelieve’s right to life by failing to examine her case properly after her son, Tom Mortier, complained to the ruling body about the manner of his mother’s death.

His lawyers say she was physically healthy and her own doctor of more than 20 years had denied her request to be euthanised. But she had made a €2,500 donation to an end-of-life organisation which helped organise the procedure in 2012, according to ECHR documents.

Mr Mortier, who is still distressed about the case, has said: ‘My mother was treated for years by psychiatrists and, sadly, she and I lost contact for some time. It was during this period that she died. Never could I have imagined that we would be parted for ever.’

He has revealed that the first he knew of his mother’s death was 24 hours after it had happened, when his wife received a phone call from the hospital telling the family to collect his mother’s belongings and make funeral arrangements. ‘Euthanasia inflicts immense harm on people in vulnerable situations contemplating ending their lives, but also their families,’ he said in a series of European TV interviews and media statements.

Tine Nys with her sisters

Reid writes of Tine Nys, who died by euthanasia because she was autistic, but her family claims that Nys wanted euthanasia after a broken relationship.

        Another high-profile civil case is under way in                        Belgium over the euthanasia of a 38-year-old woman         called Tine Nys who, according to her three doctors,            was suffering ‘unbearable psychological pain’ when she died.

The medics, who argued that they acted in good faith, were each cleared of murder in 2020 despite poisoning Ms Nys when she asked them to kill her in the aftermath of a broken relationship.

Her two sisters, Sophie and Lotte, argue that her condition fell short of an ‘incurable’ mental disorder. They want the key doctor who administered an injection to Tine to pay compensation to their family for what they have told Flemish TV was a botched procedure ‘carried out in an amateurish way’ on someone who had not had psychiatric treatment for 15 years’.

In a Flemish TV interview, the sisters said: ‘He [the doctor] also asked our father to hold the needle in her arm because he had forgotten to bring plasters. When she had died, he asked our parents if they wanted to listen through the stethoscope to check her heart had stopped beating.’

Reid writes of Maria De Laet (81) who requested euthanasia after caring for her husband with dementia for 10 years before he died. 

Killing by euthanasia is promoted and approved based on the "hard" cases. Once killing becomes an acceptable solution to human suffering, there will be many more reasons to kill.

We need a caring society not a society that kills.

Belgium reported euthanasia deaths rise. At least 50 people die by euthanasia for mental illness in 2021.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

On March 31, the Belgian Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia published their 2021 euthanasia data.

 

In reporting on the euthanasia commission's date, the European Institute of Bioethics (EIB) stated that the number of reported euthanasia deaths increased to 2699 from 2444 in 2020.

The EIB reported that at least 50 people died by euthanasia for mental illness which was more than double from the 2020 report  where there were 21 euthanasia deaths for mental illness.

The EIB reported that studies indicate that at least 25 - 35% of the euthanasia deaths are not reported and therefore illegal. Previous studies also indicate that approximately 2% of all euthanasia deaths are done without request or consent.

In 2019 Europe's top human rights court, agreed to hear the case of a depressed Belgian woman who died by euthanasia and in 2018 three Belgian doctors were charged in a euthanasia death for psychiatric reasons.

The three doctors were acquitted in the euthanasia death, but in September 2020 a retrial was ordered for one of the doctors in the case. The retrial was heard in May 2021.

In May 2021, Belgium's euthanasia law was criticized at the UN Human Rights Council.

In November 2021 a Belgian doctor was accused of doing an unlawful euthanasia death.

Belgian euthanasia doctor accused of unlawful euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Belgian euthanasia protest

The veneer of Belgian euthanasia has been peeling off with the publicity of the trials in the Tine Nys euthanasia death and the case launched by Tom Mortier to gain justice in the death of his healthy but depressed mother.

A court decision to determine if the doctor made a mistake in the death of Tine Nys was expected last month but has not yet been promulgated.

Recently a doctor was arrested after a complaint stated that the doctor had unlawfully euthanised a 91-year-old man in the Jan Palfijn hospital in Ghent. The hospital first suspended the doctor from his duties and then withdrew the suspension.

According to Amelie Outters reporting for VRT.BE:

On Saturday 20 November, after the death of an elderly patient, a "possibly unlawful euthanasia" was reported to the police, according to the East Flanders prosecutor's office. An investigating judge was requested to investigate the exact circumstances of the termination of life and the doctor was arrested and brought to trial. He was released under strict conditions after extensive questioning by the investigating judge.

Doctors at the Jan Palfijn hospital recently protested that the hospital managers contacted the public prosecutor without first discussing the accusation with the doctor.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) on March 19, 2015 stated in the Flanders region of Belgium (2013), more than 1000 assisted deaths were done without explicit request and almost half of the assisted deaths were not reported.

It looks like a “cover-up” when an independent study produces hard data concerning the lack of oversight with the Belgian euthanasia law while the government evaluation committee claims that there are no problems with the euthanasia law.

Another court hearing in the Belgian euthanasia death of Tine Nys

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Tine Nys (center) with her sisters

Alan Hope reported for the Brussels Times that a new trial has started in the death of Tine Nys, who died by euthanasia for psychological reasons in Belgium in April 2010.

On January 31, 2020 a Belgian court cleared three doctors in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys (38). The Tine's family continued to argue that Tine didn't qualify for euthanasia and that she was falsely diagnosed as autistic in order to qualify her for euthanasia.

A BBC news article from January 14, 2020 reported that:

Nys's family argue that her reason for seeking to end her life was because of a failed relationship, far short of the "serious and incurable disorder" as required under Belgian law.

Hope reported that the family challenged the January 31, 2020 verdict. 

That trial led to an acquittal of all three, but the family took the verdict to the Cassation Court, which ordered that Dr Van Hove should be tried again, as the court’s explanation for its verdict in his case was insufficiently argued.

Hope stated that since the public prosecutor did not appeal the court decision, this court case concerns the civil liability of the physician who euthanized Tine Nys.

When the three doctors were acquitted in January 2020, the public prosecutor declined to take the case to the Cassation Court, which means that the acquittal on criminal charges can no longer be overturned. So the court case currently underway in Dendermonde has to decide if Dr Van Hove is civilly liable, and therefore has to pay damages to Nys’ family.

Recently Belgium's euthanasia law was criticized at the UN Human Rights Committee.

Tom Mortier's case concerning the euthanasia death of his depressed mother in Belgium also continues.

The family of Tine Nys have battled the Belgian legal system for more than 10 years.

Similar to Canada, when a euthanasia death is approved, even if the assessments were wrong, the death has been considered lawful.

Belgium: Reported euthanasia deaths increase to 2656 in 2019. A 267% increase in 9 years.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The European Institute of Bioethics (EIB) has published a report on the 2019 Belgian euthanasia report indicating that the number of reported assisted deaths increased by 12.6% in 2019 to 2656. The 2018 Belgian euthanasia report, indicated that there were 2357 reported assisted deaths. There were 954 reported assisted deaths in 2010 representing a 267% increase in 9 years.

The EIB stated that the Belgian euthanasia commission admits that it:

“does not have the possibility of evaluating the proportion of the number of euthanasia's declared in relation to the number of euthanasia's actually carried out.”

A NEJM study examining 2013 Belgian deaths and euthanasia commission data concluded that almost half of the euthanasia deaths in 2013 were not reported to the commission.

The same NEJM study also concluded that more than 1000 deaths (1.7%) were hastened without explicit request in 2013.

The EIB report stated that the 2019 Belgium euthanasia data states that 57 people died by euthanasia based on psychiatric disorders and 48 people died by euthanasia based on cognitive disorders (dementia syndromes).

The EIB report stated that of the 57 deaths based on psychiatric disorders: 17 people had mood disorders (depression, bipolar, ...); 26 people had personality and behavioral disorders (compared to 13 for the previous period); 4 people had neurotic disorders, disorders linked to stressors and 6 somatoform disorders; 7 people had schizophrenia, schizothypic disorders and delusional disorders, and 3 people had organic mental disorders such as autism.

The 48 people who died based on cognitive disorders, 43 were not expected to die soon.

The EIB report also states that (google translated):

"in young psychiatric patients, "the unbearable and persistent nature of suffering was frequently associated with past experiences" such as sexual abuse, neglect as a child, parental rejection, self-harm and suicide attempts. . the Commission added, speaking of euthanasia, that “the failed suicide attempts made the people concerned aware that there was also another, more dignified way of ending one's life”.

I guess the euthanasia commission considers euthanasia an alternative to suicide.

According to the EIB analysis, the Belgian euthanasia report indicated that 96% of the deaths stated that physical suffering as a reason, but 81% of the deaths stated that psychological suffering was a reason for euthanasia. Only 7% of the deaths had a consultation with a palliative care practitioner.

Euthanasia and organ donation occurred in 18 of the deaths. The EIB reported that 11 of the 18 deaths had either a disease of the nervous system or a mental and behavioral disorder.

The EIB analysis of the Belgian euthanasia report (French) examines many more issues, but for the purposes of my report it is clear that the number and type of euthanasia deaths has increased significantly over the past few years.

Once medicalized killing becomes legal, there soon develops many more reasons to kill. Belgium is the prime example of a country that is continuously expanding the scope of its euthanasia regime.

More articles on the Belgian euthanasia regime:

• A retrial is ordered in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys, who was diagnosed as autistic (Link).
• Belgium law violated to kill depressed woman by euthanasia (Link).

A retrial is ordered in the belgian euthanasia death of Tine Nys, who was diagnosed as autistic.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Tine Nys (center) with sisters.

Belgium news is reporting that a retrial has been ordered into the euthanasia death of Tine Nys who died in 2010. HLN news reported:

The Court of Cassation has decided that a new trial will be brought against the doctor who performed the euthanasia on Tine Nys. The Court has ruled that the acquittal of doctor Joris van Hove was not sufficiently motivated. There will be no retrial for the two other doctors who were also acquitted.

Joris van Hove

On January 31, 2020 a Belgian court cleared three doctors in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys (38). The Nys family of continue to argue that Tine didn't qualify for euthanasia and that she was falsely diagnosed as autistic to qualify for euthanasia.

A BBC news article from January reported:

Nys's family argue that her reason for seeking to end her life was because of a failed relationship, far short of the "serious and incurable disorder" as required under Belgian law.

Michael Cook reported for Mercatornet during the first trial that:

Dr Joris van Hove’s seamy background was highlighted in the media coverage. He has been in court before over offenses like drink driving and forgery. In 2017 he was convicted of molesting young male patients. Was his troubled background the reason why he had turned his hand to euthanasia? (On that fateful evening he had to rush off to do another euthanasia after Tine Nys.) Perhaps more testimony will shed light on this. The Dutch medical council has begun disciplinary proceedings against him.

Dr van Hove admitted that he had never done a euthanasia for psychological suffering before and that he had been clumsy. He had not completed his “end of life” training and he failed to administer the lethal injection properly. He did not have a stand for the infusion and the bag plopped onto Tine’s face as she was saying goodbye to her family. He neglected to bring a blank death certificate.

With respect to van Hove, HLN news reported:

Van Hove continues to work as a general practitioner. He was finally convicted in 2017 for indecency assault of patients, but the Order of Doctors only started a disciplinary investigation after a report by the prosecution in connection with the euthanasia process. “I have not heard from the Order of doctors anymore. I am currently at work and have no additional stress for a retrial. I have nothing more to say about the other case (the moral case, ed.). ”

Van Hove's new trial will probably be brought before a civil court early next year, but if it is concluded extensively, the case could drag on for a long time.

Tom Mortier's case concerning the euthanasia death of his depressed mother in Belgium also continues.

The family of Tine Nys have battled the Belgian legal system for 10 years.

Similar to Canada, when a euthanasia is approved by the doctors, even if the assessments are wrong, the death is considered lawful.

Hopefully justice will be done.

• Belgium court clears doctors in euthanasia death of a woman diagnosed as autistic (Link).
• Three Belgian doctors go on trial in the euthanasia death of a woman diagnosed as autistic (Link).

2655 reported Belgian euthanasia deaths - 12% increase in 2019.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The 2019 Belgian euthanasia report was released indicating that there were 2655 reported euthanasia deaths. The 2018 Belgian euthanasia report indicated that there were 2357 reported assisted deaths and 2309 in 2017. In 2010 there were 954 reported assisted deaths representing a 278% increase in 9 years. Vrtnews reported:

Last year, the euthanasia committee registered 2,655 cases of euthanasia. That is 12.6 percent more than the year before. Since the euthanasia law was introduced in 2002, there has been a significant increase in the number of euthansia cases.

In 2019 one child died by euthanasia.

I have not seen the 2019 data on euthanasia for mental or psychiatric reasons but in 2018 there were 57 (2.4%) of deaths for mental or behavioral conditions, 83 (3.5%) for psychiatric reasons alone and 1% of the reported deaths were incompetent people who had made a previous request.

We anticipate a continued growth in Belgian euthanasia deaths as Belgian politicians discuss expanding euthanasia to include "completed life," which is based on people who do not have a medical condition but believe that their life is complete.

Belgium euthanasia cases:

Tine Nys (Center) with her sisters.

Recently a Belgian court cleared the charges in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys (38). The family of Tine Nys argued that she didn't qualify for euthanasia and that she was diagnosed as autistic in order to qualify for euthanasia. The family has now appealed the decision.

In November, a Belgian doctor was charged with murder in the death of 9 patients who were given a lethal dose without request. This case will be heard in 2020.

In October a 23-year-old physically healthy Belgian woman was being considered for euthanasia.

In July, a Belgian man requested euthanasia because he couldn't afford medication.

In March, a Belgian doctor admitted that 1000 assisted deaths without request occur each year.

In January, Europe's top human rights court agreed to hear the case of a depressed Belgian woman who died by euthanasia.

There may be more assisted deaths in Belgium.

Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) (March 19, 2015) on the Belgian euthanasia practice found in 2013 that:

• 4.6% of all deaths in the Flanders region were euthanasia. 
• .05% of all deaths in the Flanders region were assisted suicide.

Comparing the data from the 2013 NEJM study to the official 2013 Belgian euthanasia data one concludes that almost half of the euthanasia deaths in 2013 were not reported to the commission.

The NEJM study also concluded that 1.7% of all deaths were hastened without explicit request in 2013. This means that there were more than 1000 assisted deaths without request.

I hope that the Belgian people will wake-up and realize how crazy the euthanasia ideology has become and recognize the social and human destruction that euthanasia has caused.

Canada must learn lessons from Belgium on assisted dying

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Trudo Lemmens

I had the opportunity to attend a presentation, yesterday, by Trudo Lemmens a Professor and Scholl Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Toronto, who spoke about the lessons Canadians need to learn from Belgium's euthanasia law.

On January 29, the Montreal Gazette published a special article by Lemmens summarizing his presentation to Canada's consultation on MAID (euthanasia).

Lemmens explains how expanding Canada's euthanasia law in haste is fraught with risks. He writes:

The same week our federal government launched public consultations on proposed revisions to our Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) law, criminal proceedings started in Belgium against three physicians for their role in the death of Tine Nys. Diagnosed in 2010 at age 37 with Asperger’s, Nys received MAID under Belgium’s liberal euthanasia regime. 

Regardless of the trial’s outcome, the case highlights the challenges of allowing MAID for persons with chronic physical, developmental and mental disabilities not being close to their natural death. Belgium and the Netherlands are the only jurisdictions that allow this. Now we might be heading on the same path in response to the recent Truchon decision by the Superior Court of Quebec, which declared the “reasonable foreseeable death” criterion of MAID unconstitutional.

Lemmens tells the story of Alan Nichols to show how Canada already has a problem with the use of its euthanasia law.

Alan Nichols (Center)

One can think here of 61-year Alan Nichols, who died with MAID in June 2019. The RCMP brought him to hospital because he was confused and suicidal. Deemed capable to consent to MAID shortly after admission, the B.C. man received it one month later. 

His family learned only four days before that his life would be ended. He had a cognitive disability and profound hearing loss, which hindered communication. Nichols’s family begged to halt the procedure to get time to set up better social and health care supports. To no avail. 

If we already see questionable applications with our albeit-vague concept of “reasonable foreseeable death,” what happens when MAID becomes by law a matter of whether we live at all rather than a matter of controlling our manner of dying?

Article: Physically healthy man died by euthanasia in BC.

Lemmens explains the problem with expanding euthanasia to people who are not otherwise dying. He writes:

Legalizing MAID outside the end-of-life context explicitly confirms the ableist presumption that people with chronic disabilities may be better off dead. It opens up MAID for a host of developmental and mental health conditions, characterized by often vague diagnostic criteria and challenging predictions of treatment success. 

Autism, profound grief, schizophrenia, depression, bi-polar disorder, PTSD and anxiety have all been accepted as a basis for MAID in Belgium and the Netherlands. True, these conditions often create immense suffering; but evidence shows that with support and quality care, most learn how to cope and obtain a good quality of life. We cannot predict who does not. 

In the absence of a more objective end-of-life criterion, “unbearable suffering” will become the litmus test for determining whether someone gets MAID. But suffering is shaped by the legal, social, familial and health care context around us, and by health care providers’ perceptions of the quality of a life with disabilities. 

Moving outside of the end-of-life context creates additional concerns about capacity to consent to MAID. With many forms of mental illness, the desire to die is a component of the illness we need to address, not a carefully weighed autonomous choice.

Lemmens concludes by urging the government to examine the experience with euthanasia in the Netherlands and Belgium and then to enhance protections. He states:

Rather than radically expand our current MAID law in haste, and surrender to the court’s short timeline, the government should discuss with Parliament the complex evidence from the two jurisdictions that have taken this path. And Quebec should do the same at the National Assembly with its version of the law. 

We should also assess problems with our current MAID regime and strengthen safeguards for all, including persons with disabilities. This should include a more precise, objective end-of-life-style criterion. If it has doubts about the constitutionality of safeguards, government should submit a stronger law for reference to the Supreme Court. 

When drafting policies involving life and death, we should err on the side of life, not on the side of its termination.

Article: Belgium 2018 euthanasia report.

Article: Netherlands 2018 euthanasia report.

Belgium clears doctors in euthanasia death of a woman diagnosed as autistic.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Three Belgian doctors were prosecuted in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys (38). The family are convinced that Tine was diagnosed as autistic in order to approve her for euthanasia.

Tine Nys (center) with her sisters.

A jury in Belgium has cleared all three doctors in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys (38) who was diagnosed as autistic to qualify for euthanasia. Sadly, this is not surprising.

The Independent News reported:

Three Belgian doctors accused of murder for wrongly helping a woman end her life have been cleared by a court in a landmark case concerning euthanasia.

Relatives of Tine Nys, 38, who was given a lethal injection in April 2010, argued her death was unlawful as she wanted to die due to a failed relationship rather than an “incurable disorder” as required by Belgian law.

BBC News reported that one of the physicians was acquitted because the jury had "reasonable doubt":

The court ruled that in the case of Joris Van Hove, "there was reasonable doubt… and if there is reasonable doubt it is to the benefit of the accused"

A International Business Times article in November 2018, reported that the family believed that Tine was falsely diagnosed as Autistic so that she would qualify for euthanasia and that the law was broken because Tine never received treatment. The IBTimes reported:

Her sisters, however, told investigators that her suffering was caused by a broken heart after a failed relationship and not by autism. They also accused the doctors of making a rushed decision. They said the law was broken because Nys was never treated for autism and hence it had not been proven that she was suffering “unbearably and incurably.”

This was the first attempted prosecution for a Belgian euthanasia death. The attempted prosecution likely resulted in a slowed growth in Belgian euthanasia deaths. In January 2019, Europe's top human rights court agreed to hear the case of a depressed Belgian woman who died by euthanasia and in November 2018 three Belgian doctors were charged in the euthanasia death for psychiatric reasons. of Tine Nys.

In 2018 there were 57 (2.4%) of the euthanasia deaths were for mental or behavioral conditions, 83 (3.5%) for psychiatric reasons alone and 1% of the reported euthanasia deaths were incompetent people who had made a previous request. No children were reported to die by euthanasia in 2018.

Belgian trial draws curtain from dark back-story to euthanasia death

This article was published by Mercatornet on January 27, 2020.

By Michael Cook

The criminal trial of three Belgian doctors for assisting in an allegedly illegal euthanasia of a woman in 2010 is under way. It is the first time that doctors have been charged with an unlawful death since the legalisation of euthanasia in 2002. The accused have been named in the media: the doctor who administered the lethal injection, Joris van Hove; the general practitioner, Frank de Greef; and the psychiatrist, Godelieve Thienpont.

• Three Belgian doctors go on trial in the euthanasia death of a woman diagnosed as autistic (Link).
  

Tine Nys (center) with her sisters.

The parents and two sisters of Tine Nys have succeeded, after nine years of harassing the bureaucracy, in having charges laid. The prosecution alleges that the defendants did not follow the prescribed guidelines for euthanasia in Belgium. Tine was 38 when she died, surrounded by her family, in 2010. The doctors aver that she was suffering from a “serious and incurable disorder”. In her case, it was said to be unbearable psychological suffering.

A few intriguing facts have emerged.

The portrait of Tine Nys grew sadder with the testimony of each witness. She had been estranged from her family for years. She experienced violence in her relationships, she had an abortion, she had worked as a prostitute. “Everything in her life was a failure,” said Dr Thienpont, who diagnosed her as autistic not long before the death. (Dr Thienpont is Belgium's leading psychiatric euthanasia doctor).

The main lawyer for the parents and two sisters of Tine was forced to step down over a clear conflict of interest. The head of Belgium’s euthanasia evaluation commission, Wim Distelmans, revealed that Fernand Keuleneer had been a non-voting member of the commission when her case was examined. It's puzzling how a lawyer could possibly believe that this was acceptable. Mr Keuleneer has since been replaced by another lawyer, Joris Van Cauter.

How the doctors broke the Belgian euthanasia law became clearer. Tine had asked Dr de Greef for a letter authorising euthanasia, but he refused. So she went to LEIF, a euthanasia group which supplies euthanasia doctors, and found Dr van Hove. Dr van Hove dropped by Dr de Greef on the evening of April 27, 2010 at 8pm and asked him to sign a paper. Apparently de Greef misunderstood what he was signing, because he claimed to have been aghast when he learned that Tine had been euthanised shortly after the visit.

This occasioned two breaches of the conditions which shield doctors from prosecution for murder in Belgium. First, Dr van Hove had falsely listed Dr de Greef as the first doctor confirming that Tine was eligible for euthanasia. Second, the paperwork arrived at the euthanasia commission nearly four weeks late.

This worries euthanasia doctors. One told the Belgian newspaper De Morgen, “As a doctor, will you still run the risk of performing euthanasia if you know that with that you run the risk of being prosecuted for premeditated murder? Just because your euthanasia certificate did not arrive at the committee within four days?"

Dr Joris van Hove’s seamy background was highlighted in the media coverage. He has been in court before over offenses like drink driving and forgery. In 2017 he was convicted of molesting young male patients. Was his troubled background the reason why he had turned his hand to euthanasia? (On that fateful evening he had to rush off to do another euthanasia after Tine Nys.) Perhaps more testimony will shed light on this. The Dutch medical council has begun disciplinary proceedings against him.

Dr van Hove admitted that he had never done a euthanasia for psychological suffering before and that he had been clumsy. He had not completed his “end of life” training and he failed to administer the lethal injection properly. He did not have a stand for the infusion and the bag plopped onto Tine’s face as she was saying goodbye to her family. He neglected to bring a blank death certificate. It was like asking Mr Bean to perform euthanasia.

However, Dr van Hove told the court that the euthanasia procedure had been carried out within the law. He protested that the very fact that the case had reached the stage of prosecution was a victory for the “hidden agenda” of the Catholic Church.

The general practitioner, Dr Frank de Greef, painted himself as the victim of a charming but manipulative young woman and her angry relatives. When she was diagnosed as autistic by Dr Thienpont, he was thunderstruck. “When I saw that diagnosis, I thought: What kind of stupid person have I been? Look at its history, everything could be explained by that autism. Tine was engaging and intellectual, but also manipulative and looking for conflict."

The trial continues.

Michael Cook is editor of BioEdge.

Three Belgium doctors will go on trial in the euthanasia death of a woman diagnosed as Autistic.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Tine Nys's sisters, Sophie and Lotte

The trial of three Belgian doctors who participated in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys on April 27, 2010 will begin on Tuesday, January 21 in Ghent. A BBC news article reported: 

Nys's family argue that her reason for seeking to end her life was because of a failed relationship, far short of the "serious and incurable disorder" as required under Belgian law. 

The three doctors from East Flanders who are going on trial have not been named, but they include the doctor who carried out the lethal injection and Nys's former doctor and a psychiatrist.

Tine Nys (center)

The Associated Press (AP) article from November 2018 provides more information about the charges. The AP article states that Nys (38) had been diagnosed as having a form of Autism known as Asperger's.

A International Business Times article reported in November 2018 that the family believes that Tine was falsely diagnosed as Autistic so that she would qualify for euthanasia. The family claimed that the law was broken because Tine never received treatment. The IBTimes reported:

Her sisters, however, told investigators that her suffering was caused by a broken heart after a failed relationship and not by autism. They also accused the doctors of making a rushed decision. They said the law was broken because Nys was never treated for autism and hence it had not been proven that she was suffering “unbearably and incurably.”

Dr Lieve Thienpont

The AP article reported that Psychiatrist, Lieve Thienpont, who had approved the death, had tried to prevent thee case from being prosecuted and reportedly stated:

“We must try to stop these people,” 

“It is a seriously dysfunctional, wounded, traumatized family with very little empathy and respect for others,”

Thienpont has been criticized for her handling of other psychiatric euthanasia cases.

It is positive that Belgium is prosecuting this case. I hope that this case is treated as a criminal case rather than using this case to establish a precedent for future euthanasia deaths for psychological suffering.

Belgium 2018 euthanasia report. 247% increase since 2010

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Belgian euthanasia protest (2014)

The 2018 Belgian euthanasia report, released on February 28, indicates that in 2018 there were 2357 reported assisted deaths, up from 2309. The report suggests that the number of deaths are stable. There were 954 reported assisted deaths in 2010 representing a 247% increase in 8 years.

Belgian 2017 euthanasia report. Deaths continue to increase and children are dying by euthanasia.

Tine Neys (center) died by euthanasia in 2010.

The slowed growth in euthanasia deaths is likely based on the courts agreeing to examine some of the most controversial cases. For instance, Europe's top human rights court, in January agreed to hear the case of a depressed Belgian woman who died by euthanasia and last November three Belgian doctors were charged in the euthanasia death for psychiatric reasons.

Since 2010, Belgium has extended the law and expanded the reasons that it approves euthanasia by re-interpreting the law.

In 2018 there were 57 (2.4%) of deaths for mental or behavioral conditions, 83 (3.5%) for psychiatric reasons alone and 1% of the reported deaths were incompetent people who had made a previous request. No children were reported to die by euthanasia in 2018.

There may be many more assisted deaths in Belgium.

Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) (March 19, 2015) on the Belgian euthanasia practice found that in 2013:

• 4.6% of all deaths in the Flanders region were euthanasia.
• .05% of all deaths in the Flanders region were assisted suicide.
• 1.7% of all deaths in the Flanders region were hastened without explicit request.

Comparing the data from the 2013 NEJM study to the official 2013 Belgian euthanasia commission data one must conclude that almost half of the euthanasia deaths in 2013 were not reported to the commission.

The NEJM study concluded that 1.7% of all deaths were hastened without explicit request in 2013 representing more than 1000 deaths.

Ludo Vanopdenbosch

In 2017, Dr Ludo Vanopdenbosch, a palliative care specialist, resigned from the Belgian euthanasia commission after the commission approved the death of a woman who could not consent to euthanasia. Vanopdenbosch explained in his resignation letter that:

The most striking example took place at a meeting in early September, ... when the group discussed the case of a patient with severe dementia, who also had Parkinson's disease. To demonstrate the patient's lack of competence, a video was played showing what Vanopdenbosch characterized as "a deeply demented patient."  

The patient, whose identity was not disclosed, was euthanized at the family's request... There was no record of any prior request for euthanasia from the patient.

The Associated Press revealed a rift between Dr. Wim Distelmans, co-chair of the euthanasia commission, and Dr. Lieve Thienpont, a psychiatrist who is actively doing euthanasia for psychiatric reasons. Distelmans suggested that some of Thienpont's patients might have been killed without meeting all the legal requirements. After the AP report, more than 360 doctors, academics and others have signed a petition calling for tighter controls on euthanasia for psychiatric patients.

I hope that the Belgian people will wake-up and realize how crazy the euthanasia ideology has become and recognize the social and human destruction that euthanasia has caused.