BELGIUM PONDERS EUTHANASIA BILL

By Brian Johnston

Brussels, Belgium - - This once conservative country of 10 million is now poised on the brink of possibly legalizing euthanasia.

The Belgian Socialist Party had promised sweeping change and adoption of the Dutch practice of euthanasia if elected to power. When it formed a coalition government with the Ecolo (Green) and Liberal Parties, the new government acted as promised.

In late December 1999, Belgians were shocked to hear that a bill legalizing euthanasia was to be heard and voted on without debate. The new proposal went far beyond even the Dutch practice, which at least implies some guidelines and holds the threat of possible prosecution (although mostly symbolic). The Belgian proposal is without guidelines or oversight of any sort.

A vote on the bill was originally set for mid-February. But after public outcry about the issue being "railroaded," a series of public hearings were set.

In late February, members of the Belgian Senate invited Brian Johnston, director of National Right to Life's Western Office, to meet to outline for them the dangers of legalizing euthanasia. Key to his recommendations were greater resources to provide alternatives to the lure of euthanasia as a "solution."

Johnston, author of the book Death as a Salesman: What's Wrong with Assisted Suicide, met with leaders of the Belgian Commission on Euthanasia, key senators, and the Deputy Health Minister, Manuel Keirse, who has expressed strong reservations about changing the law.

"There are only two facilities and a total of 180 beds dedicated to palliative care in the entire country," said Johnston after touring Clinic St. Michel, a hospice in central Brussels. "The positive answers - - providing physical and emotional care for those near the end of life - - are being overlooked in a mad rush to legalize euthanasia."

Deputy Minister Keirse agrees. Keirse, former administrative director of an Alzheimer unit, had a hand in placing in the national budget a counterproposal that includes funding for long- term and palliative care.

"We have not even begun to tap the medical resources which countries like England make available for hospice care," he told Johnston in an interview. "If we go the way of the Netherlands we never will."

The Social Christian Party of Belgium (PSC), a predominantly Catholic party, has led the political opposition to the euthanasia measure. Senator Clothilde Nyssens, a PSC Senator who represents the Brussels suburb of Scharbeek, is outspoken but not optimistic about the outcome.

"It looks like some kind of measure will pass," she told Johnston. "My goal is to make sure it is one dedicated to true palliative care, and not this 'assistance in dying' which is in fact simply killing." As a member of a minority party, Sen. Nyssens feels that her point of view is being ignored, "but we must try to do something," she said.

Johnston presented copies of his book to Senator Josy Dubie, president of the newly formed Euthanasia Commission, and to Senator Marie Nagy, leader of Belgium's Green Party. One particularly important development came out of these meetings.

"They both listened intently," Johnston told NRL News. "And although Sen. Nagy repeated the standard arguments about this being 'the only way to end suffering,' I was surprised when she smiled and told me that she had instructed her party members to vote their conscience on this issue." This represents a major change in what is usually a lock-step party voting pattern for members of European Parliaments.

Pro-life Senator Nyssens was also pleased at this sign of thaw in the bloc of euthanasia votes. (By contrast, the Socialist senators are not free to vote outside of pro-euthanasia party lines.) With the Green members released to listen to the debate and follow their conscience, "We do have a glimmer of hope," said Senator Nyssens.

The world will be watching what happens in Belgium, and along with Senator Nyssens, hoping.