Belgium nursing home ordered to compensate family for refusing to participate in euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
International Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A civil court in Leuven Belgium ordered a Belgian nursing home to compensate a family because the nursing home refused to participate in euthanasia.

According to the European Institute of Bioethics report, the civil court ordered the Sint Augustinus nursing home to pay 6000 euros to the family of Mariette Buntjens, "for the harm they suffered from having to move their mother so that she could be euthanized".

Mariette Buntjens (74) died by euthanasia in the family home in August 2011. The family claimed that the the nursing home refused to allow doctors to interview their mother at the nursing home for the purpose of euthanasia.

During the trial (May 18, 2016) the nursing home told the court that the conditions for euthanasia were not met and the nursing home claimed that the doctors had not contacted the nursing home medical team for the interview.

Courts should consider the pressure that is exerted on elderly people to die by euthanasia. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition hopes that the nursing home will appeal the decision.

Link to a previous article on this case.