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.

Canadian report is negative to the concept of euthanasia for psychiatric reasons alone.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The long-awaited reports from the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) concerning the possible extension of euthanasia to children (mature minors), to incompetent people who made an "advanced request," and to people for psychological conditions alone was released on December 12.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition opposes euthanasia but for the purpose of this article we will only comment on the issue within the report.

Canada legalized euthanasia in June 2016 in response to the Supreme Court of Canada Carter decision in February 2015 that struck down Canada's laws protecting people from euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are now referred to as Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) in Canada.

• Link to the CCA summary of the three reports.
• Link to the report: Medical Assistance in Dying Where A Mental Disorder is the Sole Underlying Medical Condition.

Canada's euthanasia law requires that a person experience: physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable to them and cannot be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable. The law also requires that a person's natural death has become reasonably foreseeable. Therefore a person who is psychologically suffering can qualify for euthanasia, as long as their natural death is reasonably foreseeable.

• Link to the article: Is euthanasia psychiatric treatment.

The CCA report does not offer recommendations for changing the law but it clearly underlines the problems with euthanasia for psychological suffering. 

The report leans toward opposing the extension of euthanasia to people with psychological conditions alone. The report makes many strong statements concerning the problem with euthanasia for psychological reasons. For instance, the report states:

A particular challenge for some people who request MAID MD-SUMC is that their desire to die could be a symptom of their mental disorder. Suicidal ideation is a common symptom of some mental disorders, and some mental disorders can distort a person’s thoughts and emotions, leading to a desire to die, hopelessness, and a negative view of the future, even when a person retains decision-making capacity. It may be difficult for a clinician to distinguish between a capable person who is making an autonomous decision for MAID and a person whose pathological desire to die is a symptom of their mental disorder that impairs their decision-making. 

Most mental disorders lack the prognostic predictability of the physical conditions that currently motivate MAID requests in Canada. There is less certainty about how a person’s mental disorder will evolve over time and whether treatments and/or social interventions will be effective in relieving their suffering and improving their quality of life when compared to the physical conditions that currently motivate MAID requests. 

Having a mental disorder is one of the most strongly associated risk factors for suicide. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have found that up to 90% of those who die by suicide may have had a diagnosable psychiatric disorder (as determined by a retrospective psychological autopsy). Furthermore, there is some evidence that some people who have sought psychiatric euthanasia and assisted suicide (psychiatric EAS) in jurisdictions that permit it share certain characteristics with people who attempt suicide.

The report acknowledges that based on the permissive language in Canada's euthanasia law, if the law were extended to allow euthanasia for psychological conditions alone, Canada would have the most permissive euthanasia law in the world. The report states:

MAID law in Canada explicitly defines intolerable suffering in subjective terms. While a healthcare practitioner must “be of the opinion that” these conditions are met, if a patient truly believes their suffering is intolerable, and believes that existing means to relieve their suffering are not acceptable to them, they thereby meet the criteria for intolerable suffering set out in the legislation. 

No other country permits MAID MD-SUMC where one of the eligibility criteria is based on an individual’s personal assessment of what conditions for relief of their intolerable suffering they consider acceptable. If Canada were to expand MAID MD-SUMC using this criterion, it could become the most permissive jurisdiction in the world with respect to how relief of suffering is evaluated.

Tine Nys (center) with her sisters

Considering the recent announcement that three Belgian doctors are facing prosecution in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys. According to the Brussels Times:

The case concerns a 38-year-old woman, Tine Nys, who was euthanised in April 2010 at her request, as she suffered from psychological problems. 

According to the patient’s family, Nys was not ill enough to meet the requirements of the euthanasia law as it was at that time. In addition, the procedure was carried out in an “amateurish” fashion, relatives said. A sister of the dead woman made a complaint, and the circumstances of the case were investigated by the Ghent prosecutor’s office. 

According to the family, Nys had a psychiatric past, but at the time of her request for euthanasia had not been in an institution for 15 years. She had, however, experienced a recent break in a relationship.

Considering the fact that Canada's euthanasia law is completely subjective as to whether a person's suffering is considered "intolerable" the extension of euthanasia to people with psychological conditions alone would be a disaster. It would be impossible to determine whether a person is suffering intolerably or experiencing suicidal ideation and seeking an "assisted death."

Clearly Canada has gone too far already. Canada needs to add clear definitions to its euthanasia law rather than extending euthanasia.

Belgian euthanasia doctor killed 140 people.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

In an interview with Ian Birrell for the Daily Mail, Marc van Hoey, a Belgian physician and President of a Flanders euthanasia group, speaks about the estimated, 140 euthanasia deaths that he has done. In the interview van Hoey speaks of an elderly patient, a friend with pancreatic cancer, an elderly mother of a fellow doctor who had dementia and a 34 year-old woman with chronic depression who all died by euthanasia.

Birrell writes in the interview:

As we sit in his cosy first-floor surgery in Antwerp, surrounded by books and mementos of his life in medicine, I ask this music-loving 57-year-old physician and president of Right To Die Flanders how many people he has personally killed since Belgium made euthanasia legal in 2002. 

‘Maybe 140,’ he concludes after a quick calculation, adding that he has advised perhaps another 500 on euthanasia procedures. ‘But they did not all go through with it and die, of course.’ 

This astonishing toll is even higher than attributed to Jack Kevorkian, the infamous American right-to-die advocate who became known as ‘Dr Death’ after he claimed to have helped 129 ailing people end their lives before being convicted of second degree murder for his 130th. 

Yet the Flemish doctor could – like Kevorkian – end up in prison. He cannot carry out any more mercy killings as he is being investigated by police over the euthanisation of an elderly woman in 2015 who was threatening to commit suicide after the sudden death of her daughter. 

Simona de Moor

van Hoey is being investigated in the death of Simona de Moor, a physically healthy 85-year-old who died by euthanasia on June 22, 2015. The case in question is well known as it was recorded by the Australian SBS TV Network reporter, Brett Mason, in a Dateline documentary aired in Australia in September 2015.

Link to the: SBS Dateline special report: Allow me to die.

van Hoey is no stranger to the controversies associated with the application of Belgium's euthanasia laws. In a 2013 interview with Canada's National Post newspaper, he was candid in his assessment of the law and his approach to it:

"Marc Van Hoey, a physician who performs euthanasia and is head of the Flemish death-with-dignity association, said there has been a shift toward euthanasia of what he called the high elderly. 

“Recently I went to see a lady of 95 years old, sitting in a nursing home all by herself. All her friends and family had died. The only people she had good contact with were the nursing team. She said every evening she goes to bed, she hopes, ‘Don’t let me wake up any more,’ ” he said. He told her she was a candidate for euthanasia. 

“Why do I say that? Because maybe if you say to that kind of person, ‘We are not going to give you euthanasia,’ they open the window on the fourth floor and jump down. And that’s traumatic for everyone.” 

"Dr. Van Hoey is remarkably frank about how flexible the euthanasia law is. It requires a written request for euthanasia from a patient, but it can be written on a napkin, he said. The control commission has even approved euthanasia when there was no written request, taking the doctor’s word that an oral request had been made. 

Tine Nys (center) with her sisters.

Recently three Belgian doctors were informed that they will face a court hearing in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys (38), the first trial to take place since euthanasia was made legal in Belgium. Nys died by euthanasia for psychiatric reasons, but her family contend that she should not have been approved for euthanasia and that the death was carried-out in an amateur manner. According to the Brussels Times:

The case concerns a 38-year-old woman, Tine Nys, who was euthanised in April 2010 at her request, as she suffered from psychological problems. 

According to the patient’s family, Nys was not ill enough to meet the requirements of the euthanasia law as it was at that time. In addition, the procedure was carried out in an “amateurish” fashion, relatives said. A sister of the dead woman made a complaint, and the circumstances of the case were investigated by the Ghent prosecutor’s office.

Tom Mortier's depressed mother
died by euthanasia.

In Belgium there have been many other controversial euthanasia deaths such as:

• A healthy depressed woman who died by euthanasia.
• Belgian twins who died by euthanasia out of fear of becoming blind.
• A woman with a eating disorder died by euthanasia.
• The victim of a botched sex change operation died by euthanasia.

Another significant problem is the number of assisted deaths without explicit request in Belgium. According to the NEJM study:

In 2007, 1.8% of all deaths were hastened deaths without explicit request while in 2013, 1.7% of all deaths were hastened deaths without explicit request.

Last year, Dr Ludo Vanopdenbosch, a palliative care specialist, resigned from the Belgian euthanasia commission after the commission approved the death of a person who could not have consented to euthanasia. Vanopdenbosch stated in his resignation letter that:

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.

In 2014, Belgian euthanasia doctor, Mark Cosyns admitted that he doesn't report the euthanasia deaths.

Recently the Public Prosecutor in the Netherlands charged a doctor in the euthanasia death of a woman with dementia who previously stated that she wanted to die by euthanasia, but at the time of the euthanasia, she said NO. According to the case, the doctor put a sedative in her coffee and then had the family hold her down while completing the lethal injection.

Belgium has a serious problem with euthanasia law abuse. By normalizing the killing of its citizens by doctors euthanasia has become out-of-control in Belgium and yet the world is just learning of how bad it has become.

• Belgium 2017 euthanasia report. Euthanasia deaths continue to increase. Children are dying by euthanasia.
• Three Belgian doctors face charges over euthanasia death for psychiatric reasons.

Belgian doctors charged after euthanizing autistic woman.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

T

Tine Nys (center) with her sisters.

he Associated Press (AP) published an article by Maria Cheng that provided more information about the charges in the psychiatric euthanasia death of a Belgian woman. The AP article states that Tine Nys (38) had been diagnosed as having a form of Autism known as Asperger's.

• Three Belgian doctors face charges over euthanasia death for psychiatric reasons.

According to the AP article, the family of Tine Nys filed a criminal complaint against the doctors who participated in the euthanasia death and that the doctors, in the case, attempted to block the investigation.

Lieve Thienpont

The article reported that Dr Lieve Thienpont, the psychiatrist who approved the death, stated:

“We must try to stop these people,”

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

If this is true, Thienpont, who has been criticized for her handling of other psychiatric euthanasia deaths, should have asked herself - Why has this family been wounded and traumatized?

• Another euthanasia scandal behind the euthanasia curtain.

The International Business Times reported that the family believes that Tine was falsely diagnosed as Autistic so that she would qualify for euthanasia. The family also 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.”

Ludo Vanopdenbosch

Earlier this year, Maria Cheng wrote in an article published by the Associated Press that Ludo Vanopdenbosch resigned from the Belgian Euthanasia Commission over their approval of a euthanasia death of a person with severe dementia who never requested euthanasia. His resignation letter stated:

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.

Recently the Public Prosecutor in the Netherlands charged a doctor in the euthanasia death of a woman with dementia  who previously stated that she wanted to die by euthanasia, but at the time of the euthanasia, she said NO. According to the case, the doctor put a sedative in her coffee and then had the family hold her down while completing the lethal injection.

Three Belgian doctors face charges over euthanasia death for psychiatric reasons.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

T

Tine Neys in the center with her sisters
shortly before her death.

hree Belgian doctors will face a court hearing in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys (38), the first trial to take place since euthanasia was made legal in 2002, the Brussels Times reported.

Nys died by euthanasia for psychiatric reasons, but her family contend that she should not have been approved for euthanasia and that the death was carried-out in an amateur manner. According to the Brussels Times:

The case concerns a 38-year-old woman, Tine Nys, who was euthanised in April 2010 at her request, as she suffered from psychological problems. 

According to the patient’s family, Nys was not ill enough to meet the requirements of the euthanasia law as it was at that time. In addition, the procedure was carried out in an “amateurish” fashion, relatives said. A sister of the dead woman made a complaint, and the circumstances of the case were investigated by the Ghent prosecutor’s office. 

The committal hearing found there was enough prima facie evidence of wrong-doing to send the case to trial. The three doctors – two physicians and a psychiatrist – have not been detained. This is the first trial to take place since euthanasia was made legal under strict limits in 2002. 

According to the family, Nys had a psychiatric past, but at the time of her request for euthanasia had not been in an institution for 15 years. She had, however, experienced a recent break in a relationship.

Wim Distelmans, the chair of the euthanasia evaluation committee, who also operates a Belgian euthanasia clinic stated that Nys met the conditions for euthanasia in Belgium. De Standard news reported Distelmans stating:

'The committee only checks whether the basic conditions and procedural conditions have been met. If documents show that this is the case, then we have no reason to doubt. We do not judge the professional competence of the psychiatrist or the doctor. It is not for us to judge about that. That is what the order of doctors, for example, is for. '

Recently the Public Prosecutor in the Netherlands charged a doctor in the euthanasia death of a woman with dementia, who previously stated that she wanted to die by euthanasia, but at the time of the euthanasia, she said no. According to the case, the doctor put a sedative in her coffee and then had the family hold her down while completing the lethal injection.

• Another euthanasia scandal behind the euthanasia curtain.

Another euthanasia scandal behind the euthanasia curtain.

This article was written by Michael Cook and published today by Careful.

Tine Nys (in the centre) with her sisters.

By Michael Cook.

Another euthanasia scandal in Belgium. Two sisters have complained on a television program, Terzake, about the euthanasia of their sister. Tine Nys was 38 at the time and had broken up with her live-in boyfriend. On Christmas Eve 2009 she announced that she was going to be euthanased.

After interviews with doctors, she was given a lethal injection on April 24, 2010, with her mother and father and her two sisters, Lotte and Sophie, at her bedside.

Belgium allows people to request euthanasia if they have unbearable psychological suffering, not just a terminal illness. Tine was obviously a troubled woman and 15 years before she had been seeing a psychiatrist regularly. But she was recovering from a love affair, not suffering unbearable mental anguish.

Three doctors were supposed to concur that she met all requirements: a psychiatrist and two other doctors. This time a psychiatrist casually made a diagnosis of “autism”. The sickness from which euthanasia candidates are suffering is supposed to be incurable. Autism may not be curable, but Tine was functioning adequately. None of the doctors made an effort to treat her – but they were willing to kill her.

What horrified her sisters was their callousness and how little interest they took in persuading her to live.

The day of her death was immensely distressing for the family. The doctor was so incompetent that he failed to bring bandages to hold fast the needle for the lethal injection. Instead, he asked Tine’s father to hold it on her arm. There was no place to hang the infusion bag with the toxic drug so the doctor placed it on the arm of Tine’ armchair. To the dismay of her grieving family, it plopped onto her face as she died. Then the doctor asked her parents to use his stethoscope to see that she was well and truly dead.

The doctor even described Tine’s death as “a lethal injection administered to a favourite pet to end its suffering”.

Even though defenders of Belgian euthanasia claim that safeguards are an integral part of the system, none of them seem to have worked. Tine had shopped around for compliant doctors and the three who ticked the boxes had not communicated with each other. The paperwork was not done within the legally required time. However, the government’s euthanasia commission still approved the doctor’s handiwork.

Lotte and Sophie described the death to the Terzake journalist as an act of “perverse” cruelty.

"I hope this was bad luck, but I fear that this is not an isolated case," said Joris Vandenberghe, a Flemish psychiatrist, told Terzake. "This is really very worrying. "The bar for euthanasia should be higher.”

The teary television interview has succeeded in getting some politicians to express misgivings about euthanasia. A former finance minister and he head of the Flemish Christian Democrats in the Belgian Senate, Steven Vanackere, now says that there are many shortcomings in the law, that the definition of mental suffering is too loose and that in 13 years only one case had been forwarded to the police.

On the other hand, it seems clear that most Belgian politicians and voters support the law. Tine Nys’s sisters have said that they don’t oppose the principle of euthanasia. So even if they investigate the appalling treatment she received, the euthanasia juggernaut will roll on.

But what if the complaint of these women is the tip of an iceberg of unresolved grief over euthanasia? It took them more than five years to bring their story before the public. What if euthanasia is so painful a topic for families that they cannot bring themselves to complain until many years afterwards, as happens with cases of childhood sexual abuse?

Euthanasia was only legalised in Belgium in 2002. Eventually Belgium could be buried under an avalanche of pent-up sorrow. A single death touches an entire family – and the doctor as well. If only a small proportion of cases have as incompetent and callous as Tine’s, there could be scores, if not hundreds of patients whose loved ones are suffering from repressed grief and anger. Who knows? But sooner or later the Belgians will find out.