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Belgium euthanasia: Study finds that
nearly half of all euthanasia deaths unreported
Part Four of Four Editor's note. The following appeared on the blog of Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition at http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2010/12/belgium-euthanasia-study-finds-that.html A study that was recently published in the British Medical Journal found that nearly half of all euthanasia deaths in the Flanders region of Belgium were not reported. This study combined with the recent study that was published in the CMAJ in May 2010 that indicated that 32% of all euthanasia deaths in the Flanders region of Belgium were without request or consent suggests that the Belgium euthanasia model is out-of-control. Recently retired Belgium professor and pro-euthanasia activist Jan Bergheim toured Quebec, telling audiences that the Belgium euthanasia law is operating without any problems or abuses. When I was doing my speaking tour of Australia Bergheim had also just completed a similar speaking tour. I responded to Bergheim's comments by stating that he is intentionally misleading the public. The authors of the study analyzed the death certificates in the Flanders Region of Belgium. After determining that the death was related to euthanasia, the authors of the study sent a five page questionnaire to the treating physician. The physicians were guaranteed total anonymity and asked to respond to the questionnaire. The study determined that euthanasia deaths were reported 52.8% of the time, even though reporting is a requirement of the law. The most recent study in the Netherlands indicated that the euthanasia deaths were reported 80.2% of the time. The study indicates that the reason the euthanasia death was not reported was:
It is interesting that 97.7% of the reported cases were done by the physician, whereas 41.3% of the unreported cases were done by a nurse alone. This confirms the result of the other recent study that found that 45% of euthanasia deaths that were done by nurses were without request or consent. This study strongly challenges the Belgium government official reports. ... This study creates significant suspicion concerning the administration of the assisted suicide laws in Oregon and Washington States. In Washington State this type of a study could not even be done because the law requires the physician to lie on the death certificate. The death is required by law to be listed as related to the illness the person had (i.e. cancer) rather than the cause of death (assisted suicide by lethal overdose). In Oregon and Washington there is no mechanism in the law to determine whether all assisted suicide deaths were reported. Therefore, similar to the Belgium reports, the official reports are based on reported deaths. In Oregon, where the assisted suicide law has been in place since 1998, Compassion & Choices, formerly the Hemlock Society, have become the gate-keepers of the law. Last year (2009) 57 of 59 assisted suicide deaths in Oregon were facilitated by Compassion & Choices and in 2008, 54 of 60 assisted suicide deaths were facilitated by Compassion & Choices. When the group that lobbies governments to legalize assisted suicide are also the facilitators of the current law in Oregon, it is very unlikely that they would self-report cases that fall-outside of the law or cases that do not fit the paradigm that they are promoting throughout the United States and world-wide. This study indicates that even when legalized and regulated, that abuse and under-reporting in common. The abuse is hidden from the public by the medical practitioners only reporting the cases that are considered acceptable by the law or society. The only way to protect vulnerable people is to reject euthanasia and improve the care that society offers its dying citizens. |