{"id":2123,"date":"2012-12-19T22:46:10","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T22:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=2123"},"modified":"2013-06-02T09:35:42","modified_gmt":"2013-06-02T09:35:42","slug":"proposed-changes-to-belgian-euthanasia-law-may-affect-freedom-of-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=2123","title":{"rendered":"Proposed changes to Belgian euthanasia law may affect freedom of conscience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Belgian Socialist party has submitted proposals to amend the country&#8217;s euthanasia law to permit euthanasia of children and persons suffering from dementia. According to news reports, children would have to be suffering from an incurable illness to qualify.[<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2250662\/Children-choose-die-new-euthanasia-law-considered-Belgium.html\">Daily Mail<\/a>]\u00a0 The text of the proposed legislation does not yet appear to be available.<\/p>\n<p>However, two bills submitted by Marleen Temmerman to the Belgian Senate in May, 2012 made the same kind of proposals.\u00a0 Draft law No. 4-431\/1 makes euthanasia available to children who are able to &#8220;discern&#8221; that they want it if they otherwise meet the legal criteria for euthanasia of adults.\u00a0 Alternatively, their parents can make the request.<\/p>\n<p>Draft Law No. 4-676\/1 makes euthanasia available to patients with dementia.\u00a0 This bill also appears to impose a requirement on conscientious objectors to refer patients to physicians willing to kill them by modifying the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consciencelaws.org\/law\/laws\/belgium.aspx\">existing protection of conscience provision<\/a> in the\u00a0Belgian\u00a0euthanasia\u00a0law.\u00a0 The existing law requires an objecting physician to transfer a patient&#8217;s medical file to another physician if requested to do so by the patient or surrogate decision maker.\u00a0 The onus remains on the patient or surrogate diecision maker to find a willing physician.\u00a0 Draft Law. No. 4-676\/1 would add the following provision to the law:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Si aucun m\u00e9decin n&#8217;a \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9sign\u00e9 par le patient ou par sa personne de confiance,\u00a0 le m\u00e9decin qui refuse d&#8217;acc\u00e9der \u00e0 une demande d&#8217;euthanasie communiquera le\u00a0 dossier m\u00e9dical \u00e0 un autre m\u00e9decin en vue d&#8217;assurer la continuit\u00e9 des soins.<\/p>\n<p><em>If\u00a0 no physician has been designated by the patient or by his\u00a0 surrogate decision maker, the physician who refuses to comply\u00a0 with a request for euthanasia must tranfer medical records to another\u00a0 physician to ensure continuity of care.(<\/em>Machine assisted translation)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>On the face of it, this does not appear to add anything new.\u00a0 However, the commentary on the section provided by Temmerman indicates that what she has in mind is the addition of a requirement that an objecting physician find a colleague willing to kill the patient:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>La loi sur l&#8217;euthanasie n&#8217;offre pas de solution pour le cas o\u00f9 le\u00a0 m\u00e9decin traitant refuse d&#8217;acc\u00e9der \u00e0 la demande d&#8217;euthanasie, o\u00f9 le\u00a0 patient n&#8217;est plus en mesure de d\u00e9signer un autre m\u00e9decin et o\u00f9 il\u00a0 n&#8217;a pas d\u00e9sign\u00e9 de personne de confiance. Le patient a pourtant\u00a0 droit \u00e0 l&#8217;ex\u00e9cution de sa d\u00e9claration anticip\u00e9e et \u00e0 la continuit\u00e9\u00a0 des soins. C&#8217;est pourquoi le m\u00e9decin qui refuse d&#8217;acc\u00e9der \u00e0 la\u00a0 demande d&#8217;euthanasie doit transmettre lui-m\u00eame le dossier m\u00e9dical \u00e0\u00a0 un m\u00e9decin qui soit dispos\u00e9 \u00e0 appliquer la volont\u00e9 exprim\u00e9e par le\u00a0 patient.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The law on euthanasia does not offer a solution for the case in which the doctor refuses to grant the\u00a0 request for euthanasia, where the patient is no longer\u00a0 able to appoint another doctor and did not appoint a surrogate decision maker. The patient nevertheless entitled to enforce his advance directive and ensure continuity of care. This is why the doctor who refuses to comply with the request for euthanasia must transfer the medical file to a\u00a0 medical doctor who is willing to implement the wishes of the\u00a0 patient. <em>(Machine assisted translation)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In July of this year, the Belgian Federal Commission for the Monitoring and Assessment of Euthansia recommended that medical students should be taught how to kill patients properly, and that continuing medical education should include such instruction:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>La commission rappelle qu\u2019elle estime que le curriculum des \u00e9tudes\u00a0 m\u00e9dicales devrait comporter une formation pr\u00e9parant les futurs\u00a0m\u00e9decins \u00e0 affronter les probl\u00e8mes que pose la gestion de la fin de\u00a0vie, y compris la pratique des soins palliatifs et la mise en oeuvre\u00a0correcte d\u2019une euthanasie. De m\u00eame, les divers cycles d\u2019enseignement\u00a0 postuniversitaire et les activit\u00e9s de recyclage devraient \u00eatre\u00a0encourag\u00e9s \u00e0 inclure une telle form.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Committee\u00a0recalls that it considers\u00a0that the curriculum of\u00a0 medical education should\u00a0 include training\u00a0 preparing future physicians to deal with the problems\u00a0 posed by the management of the end of life, including the practice of palliative care and the proper implementation of &#8216;euthanasia. Similarly, the various cycles of\u00a0postgraduate education and\u00a0recycling activities should be encouraged to include\u00a0such training. (Machine assisted translation)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Commission did not appear to recognize that some medical students might have conscientious objections to\u00a0a requirement that they be required to kill a patient as a condition of graduation.\u00a0 On the other hand that Commission may have intended only that medical students be provided with information about how to kill patients properly, without a requirement that they actually demonstrate their competence.<\/p>\n<h6><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Belgian Socialist party has submitted proposals to amend the country&#8217;s euthanasia law to permit euthanasia of children and persons suffering from dementia. According to news reports, children would have to be suffering from an incurable illness to qualify.[Daily Mail]\u00a0 The text of the proposed legislation does not yet appear to be available. However, two &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=2123\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Proposed changes to Belgian euthanasia law may affect freedom of conscience&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[402,162,7,9],"tags":[261,566],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-belgium","category-euthanasia","category-law","category-news","tag-nurses","tag-physicians"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<title>Proposed changes to Belgian euthanasia law may affect freedom of conscience - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=2123\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Proposed changes to Belgian euthanasia law may affect freedom of conscience - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Belgian Socialist party has submitted proposals to amend the country&#8217;s euthanasia law to permit euthanasia of children and persons suffering from dementia. According to news reports, children would have to be suffering from an incurable illness to qualify.[Daily Mail]\u00a0 The text of the proposed legislation does not yet appear to be available. 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