Belgium to become secondcountry to legalise euthanasia
By Elahe Merhel
BRUSSELS, (AFP) - Doctors in Belgium becameonly the second in the world to legally carry out mercy killingswhen terminally-ill patients ask for help to end their lives.
Once the law officially enters into force,Belgium joins the Netherlands, so far the only other country tohave the controversial legislation on the books.
Socialist Senator Philippe Mahoux, who helpeddraft the new law, hailed it as recognition that a dying personin pain could be "the only judge of their quality of lifeand the dignity of their last moments".
The government adopted the final elementof the new law at the end of last week, setting up a permanentcommittee to monitor mercy killings under the new regime.
Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said thecommittee would meet for the first time on Tuesday to approvethe new official form doctors have to fill out every time theyhelp a patient to die.
Under the law, a doctor who carries outa mercy killing will not be guilty of committing a crime if thepatient is terminally ill and has made the decision themselves,and if certain other legal procedures have been followed.
The law was adopted in an 86-51 vote bythe Belgian parliament in May that provoked outrage from the influentialRoman Catholic clergy, in a country where 75 percent of Belgium's10-million population identify themselves as Catholics.
"It is based on the idea that the valueand dignity of a human being is no longer linked to the fact ofhis existence but rather to his so-called 'quality of life',"Catholic bishops said in a statement after the vote.
As a result of the legislation, they added,seriously ill people might come under pressure from relativesand health-care staff to accept euthanasia.
Conservative opposition parties voted againstthe bill, with the Flemish Christian Democrats also vowing toissue a challenge in the European Court of Human Rights.
Before carrying out a mercy killing underthe new law, a doctor must be certain that the request to diehas been made of the patient's own free will, is properly thought-throughand consistent, and not the result of external pressure.
To avoid prosecution, a doctor must alsobe sure that the patient "is in a terminal medical situation"and enduring "constant and unbearable physical or psychologicalpain" resulting from an accident or incurable illness.
However, the new law also guarantees a patient'sright to receive free treatment with pain killers, to ensure thatpoor or isolated patients do not ask to die because they do nothave money for treatment.
Federal and regional authorities will beresponsible for providing such care, while doctors asked to carryout a mercy killing will be obliged to inform patients that suchcare is available.
The Netherlands became the first countryworldwide to legalize euthanasia on April 1.
Assisting a suicide remains illegal acrossthe rest of Europe, although France's penal code distinguishesbetween "passive practice", such as witholding treatment,and "active practice" -- where an action to bring aboutdeath is similar to a homicide.
The laws are similar in Denmark, which allowsfor a patient suffering from an incurable illness to sign an agreementto stop all forms of treatment.
In Germany, the administration of a deadlydrug is outlawed while all euthanasia is strictly forbidden inItaly, Greece, Norway and Turkey.
The only other place outside the Netherlandsand Belgium where assisted suicide is legal is the US state ofOregon, which has had a "Death With Dignity" law onthe books since 1997.