An average of 45 people a week are being put to death under Belgium’s euthanasia regime, recent reports have revealed.
The 2018 statistics from Belgium’s euthanasia regime reveal alarming categories of people “lawfully” being put to death in that country.
According to a media release from the Federal Audit and Evaluation Commission for Euthanasia, in 2018, of the 2357 people to die under the regime, euthanasia was performed upon people who fell within the following categories:
- Those with mental or behavioural disorders only (57 people);
- Those experiencing psychological suffering only (83 people);
- Those who were not expected to die in the short term (345 people); and
- Those who were not conscious at the time they were euthanised (22 people.)
What’s more, only 161 of the 2357 people killed (6.8%), are recorded as having been consulted by someone trained in palliative care.
Despite these extraordinary statistics, where:
- more than a person a week is being put to death for a mental or behavioural disorder only;
- close to seven people each month are being put to death even though they are experiencing no physical suffering;
- close to a person a day is dying even though they are not expected to die in the short term; and
- close to two people each month are being put to death even though they are unconscious, with doctors relying on previous euthanasia requests to provide a lethal injection,
the Federal Audit and Evaluation Commission for Euthanasia “considered that all the declarations received corresponded to the essential requirements of the law” and none was referred for prosecution.
Those parliamentarians in Western Australia who are considering legalising euthanasia in that state should take careful note of where Belgium is, just 16 years after the regime became legal in that country.
The only way to protect vulnerable people against the risk of euthanasia is to not legalise it in the first place.