We found the following articles

Sigrid Dierickx received her PhD recently in Ghent, Belgium (End-of-Life Care research Group). Her dissertation called Euthanasia practice in Belgium, a population-based evaluation of trends and currently debated issues can be read and downloaded here in PDF format.

The aim of the dissertation was to provide population-based evidence on general trends in euthanasia practice in Belgium and on particular current issues being debated regarding euthanasia...

read « Euthanasia practice in Belgium A population-based evaluation of trends and currently debated issues »

Experts warn Australians against following overseas experience with euthanasia

The practice of euthanasia and assisted suicide overseas has been a disaster, with so-called safeguards failing and doctor-assisted killing on the rise, and not just for the terminally ill, says world-renowned ethicist Professor Margaret Somerville...

read « When doctors are authorised to kill their patients, fundamental social values undergo tectonic shift »

Vidéos : "Affirming dignity:"

A humane society cares for its sick and old. What does this look like and what role should law and policy play in shaping a culture that values all life? What does 'dying with dignity' really mean? In Belgium and the Netherlands, the phrase has become a synonym for euthanasia. In countries where euthanasia is legalized, it is done not only in cases of terminal illness, but also in non-terminal situations and for psychological suffering, such as depression. Euthanasia without an age limit is legal in Belgium, and has been legalized for minors over 12 years of age in the Netherlands...

read « Affirming Dignity »

Accepting a mentally ill prisoner's request to be executed shows up the madness of Belgium's euthanasia laws.

early 20 years after Belgium abolished the death penalty – and 64 years after it's last execution – the Belgian courts have agreed to a prisoner's request for a state execution. The prisoner, Frank Van Den Bleeken, sought the right to be executed because he was 'suffering unbearably' from a life-long psychiatric condition, according to his lawyer Jos Vander Velpen...

read « Belgium's insane right-to-die laws »

Theo Boer is a Dutch medical ethicist who has changed his mind on euthanasia. This is an article he wrote for the UK's Dail Mail warning the House of Lords not to pass an "assisted dying" bill.

In 2001 The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia and, along with it, assisted suicide. Various safeguards were put in place to show who should qualify and doctors acting in accordance with these safeguards would not be prosecuted. Because each case is unique, five regional review committees were installed to assess every case and to decide whether it complied with the law...

read « We were wrong, says former regulator of Dutch euthanasia »

As a nurse in Brussels, I first worked in a cancer ward and in a care unit support. So I was very quickly confronted with the demands and the practice of euthanasia. For six years, I have seen how this law significantly undermines the links of solidarity we have for the sick. More than just highlighting dubious procedures, today we are now helping along a radical change in attitudes towards death and care of the dying.

Euthanasia legal, ethically precariou...

read « Lifting the veil: what really happens in Belgium's healthcare system with euthanasia »

Advocates of legalizing euthanasia reject "slippery slope" arguments as unfounded fear-mongering and claim that its use will always be restricted to rare cases of dying people with unrelievable, unbearable suffering. But, as the Netherlands and Belgium demonstrate, that's not what results, in practice.

The logical and practical slippery slopes are unavoidable and inevitable, because those consequences are built into the act of legalization through its justification of inflicting death. Once we cross the clear line that we must not intentionally kill another person, there's no logical stopping point...

read « Why euthanasia slippery slopes can't be prevented »