Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Belgian euthanasia doctor supports euthanasia by organ donation.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Dr Marc Cosyns
A well known Belgian euthanasia promoter, Dr Cosyns, makes the case for euthanasia by organ donation in an article in the Knack


In his article, Cosyns refers to a patient "Vera" who is nearing death and wants to donate as many organs as possible. Based on Vera's story, Cosyns argues that the organ donation rules need to change since it is not possible to donate a heart when transplant is done after euthanasia. Cosyns writes (google translated):

In ' Medisch Contact' I read an article about 'donation-after-euthanasia-can-more-than-expected - too little organ donation after euthanasia'. In the Netherlands, organs were transplanted 46 times from a patient who had euthanasia during the 2012-2017 period. 35 times in the period 2005-2017 in Belgium. That can be done much more often, the doctors and researchers calculated. However, according to the 'Directive on organ donation after euthanasia', doctors are not allowed to start talking about the possibility of transplantation because the question cannot be experienced as pressure. 
Nevertheless, patients do benefit from information on this. "For many patients, this way of giving meaning to death is a perspective that unfortunately often remains underexposed," they write, arguing for greater awareness. Nevertheless, some are hesitant about the link with euthanasia, noted with criminal / religious crime. Euthanasia also means a Non Heart Beating donation.
According to Cosyns article in the Knack, he wants the organ donations rules need to be amended because it is not possible to donate a heart after euthanasia. 

Cosyns is consistent. If it is OK to kill someone by lethally injection (euthanasia) why isn't it OK to kill them by removing their organs?

Several years ago Dr Cosyns stated that he does not report the euthanasia deaths that he does  because he believes that euthanasia is no different than any other medical or palliative care procedure. Dr Cosyns was not reprimanded after admitting that he doesn't report euthanasia, making it understandable that around 40% of the euthanasia deaths in 2013 were not reported.

1 comment:

sophie j said...

This sounds to me like the old Chinese (?) method of Death by a Thousand Cuts.
String someone up, then start removing their organs and their limbs, one by one, until the person dies. Suggest readers Google it. It was seen as particularly barbarous. I think it was banned.
So it is certainly very comforting to see that, in our Modern Society, we have refined the process to make it look like it is an example of altruism on the part of the 'donor'.