Wesley J. Smith spotlights another horrifying report out of Belgium. Fresh off of their euthanasia-for-children success, Belgian doctors have decided that being able to euthanize people who consent to it just isn’t good enough. No, they’ve decided that ICU doctors should be allowed to euthanize patients, even if they haven’t received consent.
This statement paper, developed by members of the Belgian Society of Intensive Care Medicine Council, is not about giving analgesics or sedative agents to combat pain or agitation, nor about the so-called double effect, wherein analgesics given to alleviate pain may have the adverse effect of shortening the dying process. The discussion here is about the administration of sedative agents with the direct intention of shortening the process of terminal palliative care in patients with no prospect of a meaningful recovery
… Moreover, we explain our belief in the concept that shortening the dying process by administering sedatives beyond what is needed for patient comfort can be not only acceptable but in many cases desirable.
… Shortening the dying process with use of medication, such as analgesics/sedatives, may sometimes be appropriate, even in the absence of discomfort, and can actually improve the quality of dying; this approach can also help relatives accompany their loved one through the dying process—such a decision should be made with due consideration for the wishes of family members.
Bioedge points out that the doctors have given themselves permission to do this without getting consent from either the patient or the patient’s family. All the doctor has to do is give the family a heads-up first. In Le Soir, former president of the society, Jean-Louis Vincent, complains about the condemnation that surrounds euthanizing patients without the patients asking to be euthanized first, and asks for the law the condemn aggressive therapy instead. Because why aggressively work to save someone’s life when you can just kill him instead?
This statement, by the way, applies not just to adults. It applies to children as well. So Belgian doctors are giving themselves the authority to literally decide which of their patients deserve to live and which deserve to die. What the patients themselves wish is of no consequence. And now the patients don’t even need to be “suffering,” either. Anyone is fair game.
As sickening as this is, can anyone really be surprised? This is what happens when euthanasia is legalized. Belgium has been a shining example of the horrors that come with “assisted suicide.”
