{"id":20017,"date":"2014-02-06T14:54:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T21:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=20017"},"modified":"2014-02-06T16:36:22","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T23:36:22","slug":"four-year-old-girl-and-her-family-ask-belgian-king-to-block-euthanasia-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2014\/02\/four-year-old-girl-and-her-family-ask-belgian-king-to-block-euthanasia-of-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Four-Year-Old Girl and Her Family Ask Belgian King to Block Euthanasia of Children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Jessicasaba\"<\/p>\n

Speaking of child abuse<\/a>, legislators in Belgium are moving toward passage of a law that would allow doctors to euthanize children.<\/a><\/p>\n

It all began in 2002 with a law that allowed doctors in Belgium to kill their patients who were (a) at least 18 years old, (b) of sound mind, and (c) gave their consent. Left out of this (of course) was just how questionable \u201cconsent\u201d becomes when families and medical practitioners go at a sick person who is probably also isolated and totally dependent on them for their emotional and physical well being.<\/p>\n

This \u201cright\u201d morphed a bit in 2013 when doctors began killing people who were not terminally ill, but merely facing a disability<\/a>. Now, the idea of extending this \u201cright to die\u201d to children and people suffering from dementia is moving toward legality.<\/p>\n

The family of four-year-old Jessica Saba has stepped into the debate to ask King Philippe to block euthanasia for children like her. I say \u201clike her\u201d because Jessica was born with a heart defect that required surgery to allow her to live.<\/p>\n

You know what that kind of surgery is, don\u2019t you? It\u2019s expensive.<\/p>\n

Whereas, killing the child would be oh, so much cheaper, not to mention alleviating the \u201csuffering\u201d of her parents and saving the baby herself from that painful wake-up from anesthesia which any surgery patent knows all too well.<\/p>\n

When you look at it that way, it\u2019s a blessing to kill little kids. Who could be so cruel as to deprive them of their \u201cright\u201d to die?<\/p>\n

As for those difficult dementia patients, aren\u2019t their \u201cuseful\u201d lives over anyway? Think how much better it would be for families if they weren\u2019t burdened with the trouble of taking care of Grandma. As for the expense, everyone knows that end of life care racks up the bucks.<\/p>\n

I apologize for being so sarcastic. But I am at my wit\u2019s end with people who try to justify legalized medical murder by flinging around ridiculous arguments about how killing people is a kindness to them and their \u201cright.\u201d<\/p>\n

The killing of innocents is not a \u201chuman right\u201d and it is not a kindness.<\/p>\n

We are creating a society where we kill everyone who does not have the capacity to actively defend their life in a courtroom. If someone who can stand upright and vocalize sophisticated arguments does not speak up for them \u2014 and in certain cases such as the judicial murder of Terry Shiavo, even if they do \u2014 they can and will be killed by doctors obeying a court order. All that needs to happen is for someone else with what the court decides is \u201cstanding\u201d to petition the court that they want their \u201cloved one\u201d dead.<\/p>\n

\"1828189207\"<\/p>\n

I hope and pray that the lawmakers of Belgium get a grip and stop this legislation themselves. But if that does not happen, we can only hope that King Philippe will step in. I assume there will be an enormous political price to pay if he does.<\/p>\n

That is an interesting remark, isn\u2019t it? We have come to the place in our \u201ccivilized\u201d Western world where the political danger lies in refusing to allow oneself to be made into the executioner of little children and helpless old people.<\/p>\n

I do not ever take a destabilizing action in governance lightly, and I assume that is what this could be. My basic premise of governance is that a just and stable government is always the greater good. However, a government that kills its old people and little children is not just. There are times when the decision is so fraught that there truly is no other option but to take the possibly destabilizing path.<\/p>\n

Every lawmaker from the king down who says yes to this will have done something that puts them beyond the pale of civilized behavior. Every person who lobbies for it, or votes for those who pass it, will have made themselves an accomplice to it.<\/p>\n

If the king signs this, he will make of himself the executioner of little children and helpless old people. Could you sign it? Would you?<\/p>\n

I hope the lawmakers say no. If they don\u2019t, I hope the king says no.<\/p>\n

Whatever the political consequences, they are nothing compared to the moral consequences of having said yes to this measure.<\/p>\n