Euthanasia

Belgians surprised at uproar against them for ‘killing children’

The Belgians are “surprised” that much–not enough, but still much–of the world is revulsed by the country legalizing child euthanasia. From the Reuters story: Bart Sturtewagen, chief editor of De Standaard, one of the country’s largest daily newspapers, said that after 12 years of legal euthanasia in the country, Belgians had grown used to it as an option for the final stages of their lives. “I’m annoyed at hearing ‘you’ll kill children’ in the foreign media. We don’t use that kind of language anymore. It’s a very different debate on a different level,” he said.. As they say, the truth […]
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They kill sick Belgian children don’t they?

Well, they went and did it: Belgium has legalized child euthanasia. There is no age limitation.  Here is how it is supposed to work from the Washington Post story: The child must have a terminal and incurable illness, with death expected to occur “within a brief period.” The child must also be experiencing “constant and unbearable physical suffering.” Like for adults desiring euthanasia, that diagnosis and prognosis must be agreed upon by the treating physician and an outsider brought in to give a second opinion. The child is to be interviewed by a pediatric psychiatrist or psychologist, who must determine that the […]
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Belgium’s child euthanasia ‘safeguards’ will be flagrantly abused

The Belgian Chamber of Deputies approved the extension of euthanasia to children by a vote of 86 to 44 today. This bill was approved without first addressing the abuse of the Belgian euthanasia law. Let's be clear, abuse of the euthanasia law results in the death of a person. The concept of approving lethal injections for children with disabilities or terminal conditions, even after studies have proven that many assisted deaths in Belgium are done without explicit request and after it is proven that a massive number of assisted deaths in Belgium are not being reported suggests that the Belgian government […]
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Dutch health minister: 45 psychiatric euthanasia deaths in 2013

The Netherlands euthanasia law must be stopped. The NL Times reported that the Dutch Minister of Health, Edith Schippers, stated that there were 45 psychiatric euthanasia deaths in 2013 up from 14 in 2012. The NL Times stated that: Schippers believes that the rise of euthanasia cases with psychiatric patients can be explained in the increased willingness of doctors to offer euthanasia in these cases. She also thinks that doctors know that the testing commissions have ruled that in all 27 cases from 2011 and 2012, there was careful action. Thus, she claims that the conception of doctors concerning the legal […]
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Dissecting the New York Times’ pro-euthanasia bias

I have long ago given up on the media fairly — or even accurately — reporting on the assisted suicide movement. Most stories exhibit some or all of the following bias methods: Adopt the advocacy lexicon of the assisted suicide/euthanasia movement. Center the narrative around a man who “just wants to die,” rather than an event, e.g. actual news. Word engineering by redefining terms and blurring moral distinctions to make reasoned ethical analysis more difficult. Only present the perspective of pro-assisted suicide activists. If an opponent of assisted suicide is quoted, make it a Catholic priest–or better yet, a bishop–to imply […]
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