{"id":17042,"date":"2013-11-04T05:30:33","date_gmt":"2013-11-04T10:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=17042"},"modified":"2013-11-04T00:00:11","modified_gmt":"2013-11-04T05:00:11","slug":"euthanasia-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/euthanasia-for-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Euthanasia for kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Belgium is considering a law that would extend \u201cthe right to euthanasia\u201d to children, so that they could request their own deaths.\u00a0 The Washington Post<\/em> story about this, excerpted after the jump, gives a grisly survey of existing euthanasia laws.\u00a0 It also quotes an Archbishop who, of course, opposes the proposed law, but on the grounds that it is unnecessary:\u00a0 Doctors can instead use \u201cpalliative sedation,\u201d in which patients are drugged unconscious, whereupon they can be allowed to starve to death.<\/p>\n

Palliative sedation?\u00a0 Why is this not euthanasia?\u00a0 How can this be a pro-life alternative?<\/p>\n

From Belgium considering unprecedented law to grant euthanasia for children, dementia patients \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Should children have the right to ask for their own deaths?<\/p>\n

In Belgium, where euthanasia is now legal for people over the age of 18, the government is considering extending it to children \u2014 something that no other country has done. The same bill would offer the right to die to adults with early dementia.<\/p>\n

Advocates argue that euthanasia for children, with the consent of their parents, is necessary to give families an option in a desperately painful situation. But opponents have questioned whether children can reasonably decide to end their own lives.<\/p>\n

Belgium is already a euthanasia pioneer; it legalized the practice for adults in 2002. In the last decade, the number of reported cases per year has risen from 235 deaths in 2003 to 1,432 in 2012, the last year for which statistics are available. Doctors typically give patients a powerful sedative before injecting another drug to stop their heart.<\/p>\n

Only a few countries have legalized euthanasia or anything approaching it. In the Netherlands, euthanasia is legal under specific circumstances and for children over the age of 12 with parental consent (there is an understanding that infants, too, can be euthanized, and that doctors will not be prosecuted if they act appropriately). Elsewhere in Europe, euthanasia is only legal in Luxembourg. Assisted suicide, where doctors help a patient to die but do not actively kill them, is allowed in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., the state of Oregon also grants assisted suicide requests for residents aged 18 or over with a terminal illness.<\/p>\n

In Belgium, the ruling Socialist party has proposed the bill expanding the right of euthanasia. The Christian Democratic Flemish party vowed to oppose the legislation and to challenge it in the European Court of Human Rights if it passes. A final decision must be approved by Parliament and could take months.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the Senate has heard testimony on both sides of the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is strange that minors are considered legally incompetent in key areas, such as getting married, but might (be able) to decide to die,\u201d Catholic Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard testified.<\/p>\n

Leonard said alternatives like palliative sedation make euthanasia unnecessary \u2014 and relieves doctors of the burden of having to kill patients. In palliative sedation, patients are sedated and life-sustaining support is withdrawn so they starve to death; the process can take days.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belgium is considering a law that would extend \u201cthe right to euthanasia\u201d to children, so that they could request their own deaths.\u00a0 The Washington Post story about this, excerpted after the jump, gives a grisly survey of existing euthanasia laws.\u00a0 It also quotes an Archbishop who, of course, opposes the proposed law, but on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,26,27],"tags":[783],"class_list":["post-17042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-law","category-life-issues","tag-euthanasia"],"yoast_head":"\nEuthanasia for kids<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Belgium is considering a law that would extend "the right to euthanasia" to children, so that they could request their own deaths.\u00a0 The Washington Post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/euthanasia-for-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Euthanasia for kids\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Belgium is considering a law that would extend "the right to euthanasia" to children, so that they could request their own deaths.\u00a0 The Washington Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/euthanasia-for-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-04T10:30:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-11-04T05:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/euthanasia-for-kids\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/euthanasia-for-kids\/\",\"name\":\"Euthanasia for kids\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-04T10:30:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-11-04T05:00:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Belgium is considering a law that would extend \\\"the right to euthanasia\\\" to children, so that they could request their own deaths.\u00a0 The Washington Post\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/euthanasia-for-kids\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/euthanasia-for-kids\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/euthanasia-for-kids\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Euthanasia for kids\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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