Belgian physician Georges Casteur, board member of the Belgian Society of ethics
and medical morality, states that the evolution of the practice of euthanasia in
Belgium is a typical case of
a slippery slope and predicts it will be the same in Quebec if Bill 52 is implemented.
At the invitation of the Physicians’ Alliance Against Euthanasia, Dr. Casteur gave
a seminar on June 8 in Montreal,
which can be watched here (in French), based on 11 years of experience of
euthanasia in Belgium
and the conclusions formulated by many doctors. There are noticeable
similarities and differences between the Belgian laws and those of Quebec.
Dr. Casteur said that since the legalization of euthanasia in 2002, the country has
gone from having a law that authorizes euthanasia to a program that promotes
it. He cites as evidence the information that hospitals must systematically give
to patients about the availability of euthanasia (also a provision in the law
52) and the training of doctors specializing in this field. The role of these physicians
is to advise their colleagues and often, says Dr. Casteur; they themselves
carry out the acts of euthanasia.
Dr. Casteur is also displeased with the compensation (€ 150) that accompanies a second
"independent" opinion that all Belgian physicians must obtain prior
to performing euthanasia. In practice, the second doctor is a colleague or an
assistant in the same hospital. Euthanasia itself is on its way to becoming a
paid medical procedure.
As for the supervisory commission to examine suspected cases, Dr. Casteur
describes it as a "hoax." Its members are all supporters of the law
and practice euthanasia themselves. In addition, these examiners do not have access
to data that identifies patients, which enables euthanasia authors (physicians)
to present situations reassuringly.
Initially limited to terminal cases, Belgian law has considerably expanded in
only ten years, following a logic that will imminently prevail in Quebec, said Dr. Casteur:
If euthanasia is legitimate because it relieves suffering, how can one grant it
to a patient who has 24 hours to live and deny it to another who has years
still to suffer?
A 30 year old patient with early stage multiple sclerosis, people at the start
of Alzheimer's, a 40 year old woman dissatisfied with her sex change, and many spouses
wanting to die together were also able to be euthanized in Belgium. Dr
Casteur denounces the surprising complacency of editorials and the absence of
any judicial intervention in response to these events.
The most striking case is the subject of a legal case: a 64 year old woman in good
health, Lieve de Troyer, requested euthanasia, depressed by a breakup and having
no contact with her children. The doctor, who euthanized her without making
contact with her children beforehand, is none other than the President of the
Belgian supervisory committee euthanasia, Dr. Wim Distelmans. Tom Mortier, the
son of the departed, filed the complaint.
The annual number of euthanasia in Belgium increased from 200 in 2003
to 1,816 in 2013. According to Dr. Casteur, it is very difficult to show that
the decisions behind these deaths have been taken in the absence of a pressured
environment, physician or institution, in a society that has come to promote
the choice of euthanasia.
Dr. Casteur was director IMBO (mobile hospital and neurological rehabilitation
in Ostend) from 1976 to 2012 and President of
the College of Physicians
of West Flanders from 2000 to 2003.
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