Author Topic: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit  (Read 1734 times)

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rangerrebew

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3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« on: December 14, 2013, 12:17:32 pm »
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December 14, 2013


3 of 4 Belgians Support Child Euthanasia With No Age Limit

Nicole Bailey

12/13/2013 2:45:00 PM - Nicole Bailey


 

Euthanasia in the case of the elderly and terminally ill is controversial in America, especially as the population ages and medical technology improves. However, euthanasia-friendly Europe puts the US in perspective: an overwhelming majority of Belgians support a proposed euthanasia law with no age restrictions.

Many in America argue that there is no such thing as an individual "right to die," a concept that is particularly opposed by the religious community. Yet others who see dying loved ones in extreme physical pain and unable to perform basic functions of life argue that euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide, is the humane option. The artist behind the popular workplace-themed comic strip Dilbert evoked both compassion and anger when he wrote passionately in favor of euthanasia last month (emphasis mine):


My father, age 86, is on the final approach to the long dirt nap (to use his own phrase). His mind is 98% gone, and all he has left is hours or possibly months of hideous unpleasantness in a hospital bed. I'll spare you the details, but it's as close to a living Hell as you can get.

If my dad were a cat, we would have put him to sleep long ago. And not once would we have looked back and thought too soon.

Because it's not too soon. It's far too late. His smallish estate pays about $8,000 per month to keep him in this state of perpetual suffering. Rarely has money been so poorly spent.

 I'd like to proactively end his suffering and let him go out with some dignity. But my government says I can't make that decision. Neither can his doctors. So, for all practical purposes, the government is torturing my father until he dies. 

He goes on to say that any politician and any citizen who has actively supported laws against physician-assisted suicide in the US deserves to "die a long, horrible death."

Anecdotes like those complicate the debate in America. However, the most unwavering opponents of euthanasia often cite a "slippery slope" argument, which holds that if euthanasia is permitted in cases that are voluntary and extreme then it will inevitably expand to a much broader range of cases as well. Their position has only been strengthened by the recent developments in Europe.

The Agence-France Presse reports that euthanasia has been legal for anyone over 18 in Belgium since 2002. Overall, 75 percent of Belgians support a new proposed law to remove age restrictions on assisted suicide decisions, which also has the backing of the country's medical community. Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders lead the minority opposition, but the law is expected to pass despite their efforts. Any child who wants to be euthanized after the law's passage would need to meet the following conditions:

•Grounds including: a terminal illness, great pain, and no alleviating treatment
•Parental consent
•Approval of the patient's medical team

In the absence of an age limit, the legislation will establish a guideline for maturity that is widely open to interpretation:

"The Belgian legislation does not set an age limit but states that the patient has to be conscious of their situation and understand the meaning of a request for euthanasia."

Critics have pointed to echos of Nazi Germany-era "cleansing" and the consequences that child euthanasia will have for society's moral foundations, including the "trivialization" of death. The non-specific definitions of the legislation also hold the potential for abuse. However, defenders of the law claim that dying children can have maturity beyond their years and should not be denied the dignity of the right to die.

America is watching Europe and Canada, and has looked to Belgium in the past to see what the consequences may be of legalizing physician-assisted suicide. Regardless of one's opinion on euthanasia, it would be foolish to ignore the consequences it has had in countries like Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other test cases when making decisions for our own country's future.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/nicolebailey/2013/12/13/3-of-4-belgians-support-child-euthanasia-with-no-conditions-n1762574
« Last Edit: December 14, 2013, 12:18:46 pm by rangerrebew »

Offline SouthTexas

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2013, 02:17:27 pm »
If my dad were a cat, we would have put him to sleep long ago. And not once would we have looked back and thought too soon.

I ask my children if they would treat me the same when they say I should put my antique cat down.  See, she's 24 years old, no teeth, had a stroke a couple of months ago and is now blind and deaf.  She relies on me for comfort and protection and has provided comfort for me since I lost my wife.  That in itself is pretty strange since I was a dog person my entire life.

I did the hospice routine with my father in law, my mother,  my wife, and will care for this animal until she takes her last breath.    I have no use for those that do otherwise and would gladly aid their trip to the hereafter if their actions are done in my presence.

Offline mountaineer

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2013, 02:38:37 pm »
Quote
If my dad were a cat, we would have put him to sleep long ago. And not once would we have looked back and thought too soon.
He's not a cat. He's a human being. Does that signify nothing to this woman?
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Offline EC

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2013, 02:54:33 pm »
He's not a cat. He's a human being. Does that signify nothing to this woman?

Man.

Scott Adams has some fairly odd views about people, famously equating women with children or the mentally handicapped.
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Offline mountaineer

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2013, 06:28:42 pm »
Man.

Scott Adams has some fairly odd views about people, famously equating women with children or the mentally handicapped.
Sorry. I thought the quote was from Nicole Bailey; missed the reference to Scott Adams.
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Offline EC

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2013, 06:34:10 pm »
Sorry. I thought the quote was from Nicole Bailey; missed the reference to Scott Adams.

Easy done - it wasn't written very clearly. Townhall gets some good articles, the odd scoop and digs into stories like mad, but I really wish they would get one decent editor!

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rangerrebew

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2013, 08:44:00 pm »
This is really more about social decay and the degeneration of morality.  It's about mankind setting themselves up as gods to pick and choose who lives or dies; the same kind of thing Obamacare has with death panels.

Offline Atomic Cow

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2013, 08:58:56 pm »
Clearly the Nazis were just 70 years ahead of their time.
"...And these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange, even to the men who used them."  H. G. Wells, The World Set Free, 1914

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rangerrebew

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2013, 08:23:34 am »
Clearly the Nazis were just 70 years ahead of their time.

 :thumbsup:

rangerrebew

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #9 on: December 15, 2013, 08:24:59 am »
Clearly the Nazis were just 70 years ahead of their time.

However, Nazi theory and practice are alive and well in the muslim brotherhood which was started to support Hitler.

Oceander

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #10 on: December 15, 2013, 04:57:16 pm »
There is a huge difference between letting someone like an almost-dead 86 year-old pass away in his sleep, having removed aggressive modern life support systems and providing instead aggressive palliative (i.e., pain management) care that carries a significant risk of adverse consequences leading to death, and affirmatively allowing euthanasia, which is the intentional killing of another human being.  Letting nature take its course is far, far different than forcing nature to take that course faster than it's supposed to.

Offline Charlespg

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #11 on: December 16, 2013, 12:54:50 am »
There is a huge difference between letting someone like an almost-dead 86 year-old pass away in his sleep, having removed aggressive modern life support systems and providing instead aggressive palliative (i.e., pain management) care that carries a significant risk of adverse consequences leading to death, and affirmatively allowing euthanasia, which is the intentional killing of another human being.  Letting nature take its course is far, far different than forcing nature to take that course faster than it's supposed to.
ditto
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rangerrebew

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #12 on: December 16, 2013, 10:15:56 pm »
  Letting nature take its course is far, far different than forcing nature to take that course faster than it's supposed to.

It isn't a problem if you have set yourself up as a god since nature is under your control. 

Oceander

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2013, 03:27:39 am »
It isn't a problem if you have set yourself up as a god since nature is under your control. 

You still have the Emperor's-New-Clothes problem:  just 'cause you say it's so don't make it so.

rangerrebew

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Re: 3 of 4 Belgians support child euthanasia with no age limit
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2013, 09:35:02 am »
affirmatively allowing euthanasia, which is the intentional killing of another human being.

It seems to me that at some point this becomes a key issue.  Seeing how these issues tend to move to the "progressive" side, it is likely terms like euthanasia will cease to exist as "child abortion" morphs into an all encompassing law for getting rid of "undesirables."  Strange how the abortion of children with no age limit is acceptable but executing certain felons isn't.  I can see the government taking this to extremes to make a figurative "Aryan race."