Belgium 2025 euthanasia report: a record number of euthanasia deaths.

Belgian 2025 report: There were 4,486 reported euthanasia deaths up by 12.4% in 2024.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The European Institute of Bioethics (IEB-EIB) reported that the 2025 Belgian euthanasia report indicated that there were 4,486 reported euthanasia deaths in 2025 representing a 12.4% increase from 2024. According the IEB-EIB (Google translated from French):

On March 20, the Belgian Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia (CFCEE) released figures on euthanasia cases reported for 2025. 

The number of officially recorded euthanasia deaths last year reached a new record: 4,486 were reported to the Commission. This represents a 12.4% increase compared to 2024, a 51% increase over three years, and almost a doubling in just five years. 

Euthanasia now accounts for 4% of all deaths registered in Belgium, and this upward trend could intensify, judging by the reasons given on euthanasia registration forms. 

Multiple pathologies, the second most frequently cited condition after cancer, have increased by 67% in two years and now represent nearly a third of all reported euthanasia cases. More specifically, the proportion of euthanasia done on individuals who were not terminally ill due to multiple chronic conditions has literally increased tenfold in five years, rising from 5.9% to 57.3%. 

These percentages, which have been steadily increasing since the decriminalization of this practice in Belgium, raising serious questions: has old age become a sufficient reason to resort to euthanasia? 

Multiple chronic conditions: a vague category akin to the weariness of living.

In its latest biennial report published in 2025, the Control Commission highlighted this continued rise in euthanasia based on the criterion of multiple chronic conditions and explained that:

"this percentage will continue to increase, as multiple chronic conditions are associated with the aging process that patients undergo." 

Indeed, multiple chronic conditions, according to the Commission, refer to "a combination of conditions caused by several chronic illnesses that are progressing towards a terminal stage." In practice, these conditions can include end-stage heart failure, hemiplegia due to a stroke, as well as cognitive impairment, vision or hearing loss, rheumatoid arthritis, or incontinence. 

While some of these conditions are life-threatening, they primarily affect quality of life, which explains why, in 2025, more than half of the euthanasia deaths in this category (57.3%) were done when death was not expected in the short term. Is the fear of dependency becoming sufficient to shorten life? 

To understand what justifies euthanasia based on these conditions, that do not directly threaten life, one must bear in mind the subjective logic followed by the Oversight Commission in its verification of the legality of euthanasia, according to which the patient's perception of suffering is considered authoritative. 

In cases of multiple chronic conditions, the chronic progression of illnesses extends over several years and can cause significant psychological suffering, according to the Commission. Based on the scientific research of Marianne Dees, the Commission reports that:

"feelings of hopelessness, dependence on care, fear of further deterioration, and fear of increased physical suffering are determining factors in requests for euthanasia." 

In this context, it is also understandable that in 86% of all reported cases of euthanasia, both physical and psychological suffering were mentioned simultaneously. This finding underscores the vital need for better support for the elderly and at the end of life in general, so that weariness of living and fear of dependency do not become sufficient reasons to shorten a person's life.

The IEB-EIB refer to reported euthanasia deaths since previous studies indicate that there is a significant number of euthanasia that are simply not reported. Therefore the actual number of euthanasia deaths is likely much higher.

Some recent articles on Belgium's experience with euthanasia.

• Belgian bioethics committee supports eugenic euthanasia (Read). 
• Belgium debates expanding euthanasia to people with dementia (Read). 
• Almost 4000 reported Belgian euthanasia deaths in 2024 (Read). 
• The President of Belgium's largest health insurance fund promotes euthanasia as an answer to healthcare funding. (Read). 
• Belgian doctor completes euthanasia with a pillow (Read).
  

Belgian Bioethics Committee supports eugenic euthanasia for advanced dementia

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Alex Schadenberg

The Belga News Agency reported today that The Belgian Advisory Committee on Bioethics released an advisory report that supports euthanasia for people with advanced dementia.

Approval for euthanasia, which is killing a person by lethal poison, has moved from the terminally ill, to the chronically ill, to people with mental illness, to children and newborns and now to the incompetent.

Clearly The Belgian Advisory Committee have bought into a eugenic ideology based on the belief that some human lives are not worth living, and can be killed.

The Belga News Agency reported that:

At present, someone with advanced dementia cannot legally obtain euthanasia in Belgium. The current law requires that a person be mentally competent when requesting euthanasia, or that a prior living will or advance directive has been drawn up that applies when the patient is in a state of irreversible loss of consciousness – a coma.

This means that people with dementia can currently only request euthanasia if they are still sufficiently mentally competent. In 2024, 56 people with dementia in our country received euthanasia.

The Belga News Agency reported that Patrick Cras, vice-chairman of the Committee stated:

“It is not a black-and-white assessment, but doctors do feel that procedures for people with dementia have been carried out ‘too early’ because it will no longer be legally possible to do so later,”

The Committee therefore recommends extending the euthanasia law to include people who “are conscious, but whose mental competence and ability to express their wishes have been irreversibly impaired by illness or accident.”

In 2024 there were almost 4000 euthanasia deaths, which was almost a 64% increase since 2020. Belgium is known for having a high rate of unreported euthanasia deaths. Several years ago Dr Marc Cosyns stated that he does not report euthanasia deaths and studies show that Cosyns isn't alone in not reporting his deaths.

Euthanasia was sold to the public as being for mentally competent, terminally ill adults who were freely capable of consenting.

When Belgium expanded their euthanasia law, in February 2014, to include children, it was clear that eugenics was driving the force. Child euthanasia undermines the "safeguard" that a person is fully competent and capable of consenting.

By extending euthanasia to people with advanced dementia, the concept of being competent and consenting is completely ignored. These decisions are based on a decision that some human lives are not worth living.

The new eugenics is similar to the old eugenics, except that the new eugenics cloaks itself in the language of autonomy and choice, even when autonomy and choice are impossible.

Joint Elder Assisted Suicide in Switzerland to Avoid Widowhood

This article was published by National Review on September 26, 2025.

Wesley Smith

By Wesley J Smith

Once we decide that killing is an acceptable answer to suffering, the kind of suffering that qualifies us to be made dead continually expands. Now, an elderly British couple have committed joint assisted suicide at a Swiss termination clinic to avoid future widowhood and increasing fragility — in other words, to eliminate future suffering. From the Daily Record story:

A devoted couple who “couldn’t bear to be apart” have died together at a Swiss assisted dying clinic after sending emails to their relatives to let them know.

Neither Michael Posner, 97, nor his wife Ruth, 96, had a terminal illness, but had made the decision to die together because they were desperate not to be apart after 75 years of marriage.

This is far from the first such case as euthanasia consciousness has spread throughout the West. I even know of one joint euthanasia homicide in Belgium of an elderly couple who weren’t sick but worried about future widowhood. It was arranged by their son so the children could avoid future caregiving.

There was a time that joint geriatric suicides were considered tragedies. Now they are accepted by many without so much as a raised eyebrow. This is the “compassionate” world, favoring some suicides, that euthanasia advocates are conjuring.

More articles by Wesley Smith (Articles Link).

Almost 4000 Belgian euthanasia deaths in 2024.

Belgian euthanasia deaths more than doubled in the last 10 years.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Brussels Times reported on March 19, 2025 that there were almost 4000 Belgian euthanasia deaths in 2024. According to the Brussels Times report:

The number of patients opting for euthanasia in Belgium rose by nearly 17% in 2024, amounting to 3,991 cases, according to figures by the Federal Control and Evaluation Commission on Euthanasia (FCEE) on Wednesday.

The graph (2014 - 2024) shows that the Belgian euthanasia deaths have more than doubled in the last 10 years.

The Brussels Times stated that euthanasia represented 3.6% of all deaths in 2024 which was up from 3423 in 2023 or 3.1% of all deaths.

It is important to state that Belgium is known for having a significant number of unreported euthanasia deaths. Several years ago Dr Marc Cosyns stated that he does not report euthanasia deaths because he believes that euthanasia is no different than any other medical or palliative care procedure.

The Belgium euthanasia data indicates that there is a much higher rate of euthanasia among Dutch speaking as compared to French speaking citizens.

The figures show a sharp 25% increase in the number of Dutch-speaking patients: at 3,042, they represented more than 76% of cases in 2024. On the French-speaking side, however, there was a decline from 1,001 in 2023 to 949 last year. "The commission has no possible explanation for this," they said.

 The Brussels Times continued:

The bulk of patients were over 70 years old (72.6%) and over 43% were older than 80. "Euthanasia in patients younger than 40 years remains rare," said the FCEE. Last year, there were only 50 cases in this age group. One case involved euthanasia in a minor. "Since the extension of the law in 2014, this brings the total number of registered cases in minors to six."

Belgium expanded their euthanasia law in 2014 to permit child euthanasia. The Brussels Times reported that:

In 76.6% of cases, death was expected in the short term. However, euthanasia in patients who are not terminal did increase, especially among those with multiple chronic conditions. The vast majority of patients experienced both physical and psychological suffering (82%). Just under 16% experienced only physical pain and 1.9% only psychological suffering.

It is concerning that 26.8% of the euthanasia deaths were based on "polypathology", a term that includes people with various chronic and incurable diseases. These deaths are usually people with disabilities who are often not otherwise dying.

Luc Van Gorp, the President of Belgium's largest health insurance fund, Christian Mutualities (CM) stated in April 2024 that Belgium cannot fund its healthcare needs and requires more deaths by euthanasia. 

2020 Belgian euthanasia report. Covid-19 had a minor effect on the number of deaths.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Alan Hope reported for the The Brussels Times, that the COVID-19 pandemic had little effect on the number of reported euthanasia deaths in 2020. According to the report, there were 2444 reported Belgian euthanasia deaths in 2020 which was down from 2656 in 2019 but up from 2357 in 2018.

According to the report, the number of euthanasia deaths for psychiatric reasons also dropped from 26 in 2019 to 21 in 2020 which is a significant drop from 57 in 2018.

According to the report, Wim Distelmans, the chair of the euthanasia commission suggested that some people who are not terminally ill but were approved for euthanasia based on polypathology postponed their death by lethal injection to have the opportunity to say farewell to friends and family.

Hope suggests in the article that the dip in euthanasia deaths may have been related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I suggest that it was connected to the recent controversial court cases dealing with euthanasia for psychiatric reasons.

For instance, in 2019 Europe's top human rights court, in agreed to hear the case of a depressed Belgian woman who died by euthanasia and in 2018 three Belgian doctors were charged in a euthanasia death for psychiatric reasons.

The three doctors were acquitted in the euthanasia death, but in September 2020 a retrial was ordered for one of the doctors in the case. 

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.

An Associated Press report, revealed a rift between Wim Distelmans, chair of the euthanasia commission, and Dr. Lieve Thienpont, the psychiatrist who does the most euthanasia's for psychiatric reasons. Distelmans suggested that some of Thienpont's patients might have been killed without meeting all of the legal requirements. After the AP report, more than 360 doctors, academics and others signed a petition calling for tighter controls on euthanasia for psychiatric patients.

I hope that the Belgian people will come to realize how crazy the euthanasia ideology is and recognize the social and human destruction that euthanasia causes.

Belgian euthanasia law is broken, says academic study

This article was published by Mercatornet on February 1, 2021.

Michael Cook

By Michael Cook

Its scope is ever-widening and the safeguards are failing.

Every once in a while, a bioethics article appears which is so powerful an indictment of injustice that it sends shivers up the spines of its readers. In 1949 Leo Alexander published “Medical Science under Dictatorship” in the New England Journal of Medicine, about the atrocities committed by Nazi doctors. In 1966 Henry K. Beecher published “Ethics and Clinical Research”, also in the NEJM, whose bland title belied its searing message about ethical catastrophes in contemporary American medicine.

“Euthanasia in Belgium: Shortcomings of the Law and Its Application and of the Monitoring of Practice”, just published in the The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, may not be as sensational as these landmark articles, but it gives them a run for their money.

Since 2002 euthanasia laws in Belgium and the Netherlands have been models for legal reform elsewhere. Canada has followed them. Portugal is about to. Spain is moving in the same direction. In Belgium euthanasia accounts for an estimated 2.4 percent of all deaths, and much more in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking section of the country.

Yet the authors of the JMP article basically argue that Belgian euthanasia is broken ethically, administratively and legally. Its scope is ever-widening and the safeguards are failing. The commission in charge of overseeing doctors’ compliance with the law is ineffective or even complicit in a pro-euthanasia agenda. To document its stunning claims, it draws not on newspaper scandals but on thoroughly researched academic research over the past 20 years and the reports of the control commission itself.

The authors, Kasper Raus, Bert Vanderhaegen, and Sigrid Sterckx, are all associated with Ghent University. It should be stressed that Kasper Raus and Sigrid Sterckx do not oppose euthanasia as a theoretical possibility. But, to their dismay, they feel that the Belgian model is broken. They make three main assertions.

“First, the scope of the Euthanasia Law has been stretched from being used for serious and incurable illnesses to being used to cover tiredness of life.” Under the 2002 Belgian law, euthanasia for “tiredness of life” is not permitted. But doctors can circumvent the law by diagnosing “polypathology”– a jumble of ailments which nearly every elderly person has – and this will be deemed sufficient for euthanasia. “Polypathology” was the reason cited in 19.4 percent of all reported euthanasia cases in 2019 and a “staggering” 47 percent of all reported nonterminal cases.

“Second, the obligatory consultation of one or two independent physicians may fail to provide a real safeguard. Their tasks are quite limited, and, more importantly, their advice is not binding anyway. The final authority to perform euthanasia lies with the attending physician who can perform it even against the (negative) advice of the consulted physicians.”

Here is one example of how the system can be gamed. If euthanasia is requested for a psychiatric condition, a psychiatrist needs to be consulted. However, if the patient has another condition, the diagnosis can be redefined as “polypathology” and a GP can approve it, eliminating the need for a psychiatric consultation.

Third, “The Commission is unable to check the fulfilment of various legal criteria, and it has substantial authority to (re) interpret the Euthanasia Law as it sees fit.” In fact, “the Commission does not seem to act as a filter between physicians who perform euthanasia and the Public Prosecutor, but instead as a shield that prevents potentially problematic cases from being referred.”

Conflict of interest is baked into the composition of the 16-member evaluation committee. Eight of them must be doctors and many of them, including the chairman, Wim Distelmans, perform euthanasia regularly. So they end up checking each other’s files for irregularities. They are supposed to recuse themselves if one of their own cases comes up – but they don’t.

Nothing illustrates the ineffectiveness — or connivance — of the Commission better than its track record. In the 18 years since legalisation, it has only referred one case to the Public Prosecutor. And this case had been filmed by an Australian broadcaster and was so obviously in breach of the law that referral was needed to keep up appearances. The doctor was acquitted.

Furthermore, research suggests that as many as one in three cases of euthanasia in Flanders are never reported – making the statistics almost meaningless.

The Commission consistently defends the smooth operation of the law, asserting that despite glitches here and there regarding “non-essential’ features, the “essential conditions” are being upheld. But the authors point that there is no legal ground for this distinction. The Commission is arrogating to itself legislative powers which it does not have.

Policy-makers and politicians in Belgium ought to be horrified by the abysmal working of their country’s euthanasia law documented by these academics. But the authors are not optimistic. They conclude by saying that whether anyone will take them seriously remains to be seen.

Amazingly, none of this is news in Belgium. Euthanasia has become so normalised that its critics tend to be regarded as the eccentrics, not the practitioners. So Wim Distelmans has little trouble in batting away condemnation.

A TV station last year gave one of the authors of the JMP article, Sigrid Sterckx, a platform to air her complaints. Distelmans’s response in an op-ed reveals a lot about the smugness of the “euthanasia establishment” in Belgium.

“This does not happen lightly … doctors do a thorough self-check beforehand … When the Committee finds an error, it is almost always a procedural error, such as forgetting to enter the date of death … If, according to the doctor(s) involved in the euthanasia, the conditions are met and this has been confirmed in the registration document, the Commission has confidence in this.”

Belgian doctors are killing thousands of their patients every year and only one of them has ever been referred for prosecution and no one has ever been convicted. Does this sound fishy to Dr Distelmans? Not at all. “There is a huge taboo among doctors about ‘helping someone with their wish to die’. So it is never an ill-considered decision.”

Never? That’s right, never. The catchphrase “Trust me, I’m a doctor” has never sounded more paternalistic and more sinister.

Belgian authorities investigating alleged illegal euthanasia deaths

This article was published by Bioedge on November 29, 2020.

Michael Cook

By Michael Cook
Editor of BioEdge 

Officials in the Belgian city of Leuven are investigating about ten euthanasia cases which may not have been done legally.

The public prosecutor was tipped off by an anonymous letter to the De Standaard newspaper. comes from a letter sent anonymously to the paper’s editorial desk. Until the investigation has been completed, police are keeping mum.

The letter says: “Our family member passed away two years ago, and we were told that euthanasia was presumed to have been carried out without the doctors informing us or following the necessary procedure. This is a very traumatic experience for us.”

Doctors are not required to notify the family if a person wants to be euthanised, but various medical associations strongly recommend it.

Two doctors were named in the letter, both of them associated with nursing homes in the Emmaus group. The head of the group, a former federal minister, Inge Vervotte, confirmed that the two doctors work with the homes, but she insisted that stressed that the cases being investigated involved patients in their private practice, and not residents of the nursing homes.

Professor Wim Distelmans, Belgium’s chief euthanasia overseer, said that his committee is supposed to be informed about every case of euthanasia, but it doesn’t always happen. “Some doctors are happy to admit that,” he admitted.

“What doctors write down, we naturally take for granted as true,” he said. “Apart from that, and rightly so, everyone is free to file a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office if they think they have reason to.”"

This article was published by Mercatornet on November 30, 2020.

Belgium’s complacent euthanasia regime under threat

More complaints have been made about doctors who break the law with impunity

By Michael Cook

Editor of Bioedge

In northern latitudes the sound of spring begins with the booming of snow-covered ice cracking in frozen rivers. Is something like that happening in Belgium?

Officials in the Belgian city of Leuven are investigating about ten euthanasia cases which may not have been done legally.

The public prosecutor was tipped off by an anonymous letter to the De Standaard newspaper. Until the investigation has been completed, police are keeping mum.

The letter said: “Our family member passed away two years ago, and we were told that euthanasia was presumed to have been carried out without the doctors informing us or following the necessary procedure. This has been a very traumatic experience for us.”

Doctors are not required to notify the family if a person wants to be euthanised, but various medical associations strongly recommend it.

Two doctors were named in the letter, both of them associated with nursing homes run by the Emmaus group. The head of the group, a former federal minister, Inge Vervotte, confirmed that the two doctors work with the homes, but she insisted that stressed that the cases being investigated involved patients in their private practice, and not residents of the nursing homes.

Professor Wim Distelmans, Belgium’s chief euthanasia overseer, said that his committee is supposed to be informed about every case of euthanasia, but it doesn’t always happen. “Some doctors are happy to admit that,” he admitted.

“What doctors write down, we naturally take for granted as true,” he said. “Apart from that, and rightly so, everyone is free to file a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office if they think they have reason to.”

In other words, according to Belgium’s Grand Poobah of Euthanasia, move along please, there’s nothing to see here.

But there is.

 

Wim Distelmans

Regulation of euthanasia in Belgium would not pass the smell test for conflict of interest in countries like the US or the UK.

Dr Distelmans, a photogenic, charismatic oncologist, is the most egregious example of a bizarre euthanasia Mafia which appears to set the agenda for euthanasia in Belgium. He is the head of the regulatory body; he is perhaps the country’s best-known practitioner of euthanasia (he has reportedly killed hundreds of people); he is the chairman of the country’s leading euthanasia lobby, LEIF; and he is the media’s go-to man for comment on euthanasia.

Conflict of interest, anyone?

The European Court of Human Rights is currently considering the case of a Belgian woman, Godelieva De Troyer, who was euthanised in 2012. Wim Distelmans was her doctor. Her son, Tom Mortier, claims not only that he was left out of the process, but that there were legal irregularities in the way that the euthanasia was carried out.

“The facts of this case, and the requirements of the law in Belgium, are so far apart that it demonstrates that if you legalize euthanasia, you cannot control it,” says Robert Clarke, an English barrister acting for Mortier.

Local authorities have dismissed the long-running case as a smear campaign. A leading Belgian intellectual, the late Etienne Vermeersch, the former president of the Belgian Advisory Committee on Bioethics, defended Distelmans in a 2014 newspaper op-ed. In it he declared, in a baffling display of chauvinistic delusion, that Belgium, together with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, where euthanasia is also legal, “stands, ethically, at the top of the world.”

Now it appears that the tragic death of Godelieva De Troyer may not have been an outlier.

Stay tuned.

Report: Concerns about euthanasia in Belgium.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A broadcast from September 30 examines concerns about euthanasia in Belgium. The broadcast in Dutch (Link to the broadcast) examines several euthanasia stories while interviewing a member of the Belgium euthanasia Commission and a well-known researcher concerning the Belgium euthanasia law.

The European Institute of Bioethics reports:

(Concerns about euthanasia) is indicative of the growing unease that reigns in Belgium with regard to euthanasia. Misunderstandings on the part of patients, discomfort of doctors faced with the demands of their patients, disobedience of the law, suffering of families, ... This podcast of about thirty minutes plunges the viewer into the heart of the world of euthanasia, world at the same time bureaucracy of the Commission responsible for controlling euthanasia, and a world full of emotion in the face of the suffering of patients who testify.

The European Institute of Bioethics (Google translated) reports that the broadcast interviews Nancy and Ruth:

Nancy, who is 48 years old and suffers from several pathologies: asthma, weakened immunity, brain tumors… requested euthanasia 4 years ago, but does not meet the criteria for an incurable and hopeless disease. The podcast also gives voice to Ruth, 28, who has suffered from severe psychiatric conditions since being sexually abused at the age of 5.

The broadcast interviews Dr Luc Proot, a long-time member of the Committee who is concerned about the increase in euthanasia deaths. The European Institute of Bioethics reports (Google translated):

The a posteriori control, that is to say once the person has already been euthanized by the doctor. According to Dr Luc Proot, member of the Commission, an a priori check would take too long and would lead to a much lower number of euthanasies ... He is nevertheless worried about the meteoric increase in the number of cases (2,655 in 2019 , ten times more than in 2003). The Commission must process more than 200 euthanasies at each of its monthly meetings, in one evening. “If we reach three or four thousand cases per year, we will no longer be able to do the job,” he says.

The broadcast interviews Belgian euthanasia researcher, Sigrid Sterckx. The European Bioethics Institute reports (Google Translated):

Sigrid Sterckx, professor of ethics at the University of Ghent, assesses at least 1/3 euthanasia not declared to the Commission in Flanders. She drew attention to the lack of transparency in the work of the Commission. Over the course of the report, we learn that the medical members are sometimes called upon to vote on their own euthanasia files. They are then not supposed to take part in the discussion, but must not withdraw when their files are analyzed. These are anonymous, but the members of the Commission often recognize the handwriting of their colleague ... It takes at least 2/3 of the votes to send a file to the Public Prosecutor. This quorum was not reached in the case of a doctor who had given a lethal drink to a lady no longer wishing to live after the death of her daughter. For Dr Proot, this quorum is “too severe.”

It is important that Sterckx upholds the truth, that studies prove least 1/3 of the euthanasia deaths are not declared to the Commission and since the Belgian Euthanasia Commission requires 2/3 of the members to demand an investigation before it is done. The one comment that is missing is the fact that Dr Wim Distelmans both operates the euthanasia clinic and chairs the Euthanasia Commission.

A retrial is ordered in the belgian euthanasia death of Tine Nys, who was diagnosed as autistic.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Tine Nys (center) with sisters.

Belgium news is reporting that a retrial has been ordered into the euthanasia death of Tine Nys who died in 2010. HLN news reported:

The Court of Cassation has decided that a new trial will be brought against the doctor who performed the euthanasia on Tine Nys. The Court has ruled that the acquittal of doctor Joris van Hove was not sufficiently motivated. There will be no retrial for the two other doctors who were also acquitted.

Joris van Hove

On January 31, 2020 a Belgian court cleared three doctors in the euthanasia death of Tine Nys (38). The Nys family of continue to argue that Tine didn't qualify for euthanasia and that she was falsely diagnosed as autistic to qualify for euthanasia.

A BBC news article from January 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.

Michael Cook reported for Mercatornet during the first trial that:

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.

With respect to van Hove, HLN news reported:

Van Hove continues to work as a general practitioner. He was finally convicted in 2017 for indecency assault of patients, but the Order of Doctors only started a disciplinary investigation after a report by the prosecution in connection with the euthanasia process. “I have not heard from the Order of doctors anymore. I am currently at work and have no additional stress for a retrial. I have nothing more to say about the other case (the moral case, ed.). ”

Van Hove's new trial will probably be brought before a civil court early next year, but if it is concluded extensively, the case could drag on for a long time.

Tom Mortier's case concerning the euthanasia death of his depressed mother in Belgium also continues.

The family of Tine Nys have battled the Belgian legal system for 10 years.

Similar to Canada, when a euthanasia is approved by the doctors, even if the assessments are wrong, the death is considered lawful.

Hopefully justice will be done.

• Belgium court clears doctors in euthanasia death of a woman diagnosed as autistic (Link).
• Three Belgian doctors go on trial in the euthanasia death of a woman diagnosed as autistic (Link).

Belgian Catholic hospitals that provide euthanasia will cease being Catholic.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

In April, 2017; 15 Belgian psychiatric hospitals that are operated by the Belgian Brothers of Charity, announced that they would allow euthanasia in their institutions.

Soon after, Br Rene Stockman, the superior general of the Brothers of Charity, said he was devastated by the news and asked the Vatican to intervene in this case.

According to Zenit news, in August 2017, the Vatican sent a letter to the Belgian Brothers of Charity condemning euthanasia and ordered them to stop euthanasia in their psychiatric institutions.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has ordered the Belgian Brothers of Charity to cease identifying the psychiatric hospitals as Catholic institutions now that they permit euthanasia.

According to CNA news the letter from the CDF from March 30, 2020 stated:

"with deep sadness" the "psychiatric hospitals managed by the Provincialate of the Brothers of Charity association in Belgium will no longer be able to consider themselves Catholic institutions."

CNA news also reported that Brother René Stockman the superior general of the Brothers of Charity, said that "with a heavy heart" the religious congregation "must let go of its psychiatric centers in Belgium."

More information on this topic:

• Article: Is euthanasia psychiatric treatment? (Link).
• Article: Why legalizing medical assistance in dying for people with mental illness is misguided (Link).
• Article: Psychiatrists must prevent suicide, not provide it (Link).
• Article: Dr Mark Komrad: Why psychiatrists should oppose euthanasia (Link).

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.

Euthanasia in Belgium. A son's story

Tom Mortier

Godelieva De Troyer had been suffering from chronic depression for twenty years. The family was unaware when she was euthanised by a doctor who co-chairs the federal euthanasia regulator and who co-founded a euthanasia organisation that De Troyer had just given money to.'

Tom Mortier hadn't given much thought to Belgium's euthanasia laws. He didn't think they affected him. Tom is a university professor in Belgium, where he has lectured since 2006. For Tom, it seemed that if a person wanted to die, who are we to stop him? Why can't that person simply make that choice? Besides, it doesn't affect anyone else.

'Tom's perspective changed forever one day when he received a phone call. The caller was from a hospital, letting him know that he needed to take care of his mother's affairs since she had been euthanized.'

To read more about Tom's story, visit ADF International's 'Affirming Dignity' campaign.

More articles about Tom and his mother's death:

• Europe's top human rights court will hear case of depressed Belgian woman who died by euthanasia (Link).
• Depressed mother died by euthanasia, her son challenges the law (Link).
• Belgian euthanasia promoters attack man whose depressed mother died by euthanasia (Link).

Belgian doctor charged with murder of four patients.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

CHR van Hoei Hospital

A doctor in Belgium has been charged with murder in the deaths of four patients in the palliative care department of the CHR van Hoei Hospital. 

An article published by Nieuwsblad.be stated (google translated):

The court has suspected a doctor from Tihange of four murders. The man, who worked in the palliative care department of the CHR van Hoei Hospital, is believed to have killed at least four patients with a syringe of morphine mixed with other substances. "Because they were suffering". 

The four victims fell in one weekend in 2017, when the doctor was on duty. The investigation started after an anonymous complaint that had arrived at the hospital. 

The court is also investigating four other "irregular deaths that did not proceed according to the law on euthanasia". Two cases of patients who survived the deadly syringe are also being investigated. 

The doctor, who has since been dismissed, was arrested but released under strict conditions. He must keep himself available to the judiciary.

Even though Belgium has the most tolerant euthanasia laws, they still have doctors who are killing outside of the law. It also sounds like the doctor is using a "mercy killing" defense to suggest that he had no choice because they were suffering.

The Belgian government has not dealt with the fact that a 2015 study showed that more than 1000 people died by assisted death without request in 2013. In every jurisdiction in the world, data, such as this would create great concern, but in Belgium it is simply a statistic.

Euthanasia is problematic because, what is properly defined as murder becomes a legal act when a doctor follows the protocol. The doctor who doesn't follow the protocol breaks the law. The crime is then breaking the protocol and not murder and yet from the beginning it is murder.

Belgian euthanasia doctor admits that 1000 people die each year by euthanasia without request.

Alex Schadenberg
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Belgian 2014 euthanasia protest.

All is not good in the Belgian euthanasia lobby as leaders and advocates argue about organ donation by euthanasia and euthanasia without request.

An article by Simon Demeulemeester and Jeroen de Preter published in The Knack last year concerns comments by euthanasia doctors Marc Cosyns and Wim Distelmans. In response to Ivo Poppe, a nurse who admitted to killing 10 - 20 people, including his mother, Cosyns told the Belgian media that each year there are 1000 assisted deaths without request.

Dr Marc Cosyns

Cosyns only restated the data from a study published in the NEJM (April 19, 2015)  indicating that 1.7%  of all deaths  (more than 1000) in the Flanders region of Belgium, were hastened without explicit request in 2013.

An earlier study found that 1.8% of all deaths in the Flanders region of Belgium were hastened without explicit request, in 2007, meaning that the problem has been consistent.

Distelmans, the chair of the Belgian euthanasia commission, attempts to cover-up the data from the study by stating that ending of life without consent occurred before euthanasia became legal and is only done when a physician has "no choice." Distelmans says (google translated):

Doctors in particular who stood with their backs against the wall. Their decision was always well-considered and well-reasoned. If a nurse was involved, it was purely to provide technical assistance, for example by installing an infusion. It is unthinkable that nurses would administer a euthanatic drug on their own.

Distelmans not only tries to covers-up the data from the  NEJM (April 19, 2015) study, he covers-up the data from a study that was published in the CMAJ (May 17, 2010)  indicating that in 2007, nurses participated in 248 euthanasia deaths with 120 of those deaths being done without the explicit consent of the patient. The data also indicated that nurses participated in 12% of the euthanasia deaths with a request from the patient and 45% of the euthanasia deaths that they participated in were done without the request of the patient.

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. The Knack article reports that Cosyns wants the euthanasia law to now be dismantled.