Belgium is considering an expansion of its decade-old euthanasia law to allow minors and Alzheimer’s sufferers to seek permission to die. The Socialist Party’s proposal appears likely to be approved to remove the age limit (of 18 years) for electing euthanasia.
The new law allows for “the law to be extended to minors if they are capable of discernment or affected by an incurable illness or suffering that we cannot alleviate.”
Socialist Senator and drafter Philippe Mahoux said that there had been cases of adolescents who “had the capacity to decide” their future.
I have been a long supporter of the right to die as a basic human right. However, I have great reservations about allowing minors to make such a decision. The articles that I have read do not mention parental consent, which I assume is required in such cases. If parental consent is required, do you believe children should be allowed to elect euthanasia?
Source: France 24
in 2009 they started issuing k guns to Bobby’s and high crime areas. Yes they do have high crime areas. At 1 time it was a hanging offense to strike a Bobby. Today they are backed up by SWAT team. They also don’t have the gingproblem that we have. Of course they do have gangs and it is getting worse
I am fully onside with legalized and voluntary euthanasia for those who want it. If there comes a point where life will only get worse and more painful, where there is no hope of improvement (e.g. ALS, MS, cancer, etc.) I can empathize completely. I’ve had excellent lifelong health and never thought about suicide, but I might if I were in their shoes.
Kids aren’t old enough to form consent, nor do they possess the willpower of adults to endure pain. What if the kid has a temporary condition or a recurring one that is painful (e.g. colitis)? A child might be unwilling to endure pain in the short term, pain that will eventually go away (or at least become more bearable or treatable).
Parental consent isn’t the biggest problem, parental pressure is. It’s far easier to browbeat a kid into obedience than an adult. How do we know that a kid who “asks” for it isn’t being forced to by parents who want the kid dead (e.g. a child who requires expensive care)? Even if the kid has full mental faculties (not mentally disabled), this is still a risk.
This should only be considered if a child has a terminal illness, absolutely no chance of improvement. Otherwise, this is far too easily prone to misuse. There are no known cases of adults being forced into euthanasia, but it would be easy with a child.
P Smtih children and teens can have, as one example, that I know only too intimately, trigeminal neuralgia, also known as “the suicide disease” and “the worst pain known to man” The chances of spontaneous remission is negligible at best. If surgery, meds have not worked then you are left with an often debilitating, disabling, and horrendous virtually unendurable pain.
For many with tn, you can tolerate no touch to the area of the face involved, including even the brush of a single hair or the wisp of a breeze without horrendously agonizing pain. (I used to have to get my face washed under general anaesthesia for many years since I could not wash it and the dirt buildup was resulting in repeated eye infections).
The worst part of pain like this is that it is not terminal.
Unusual, government allowing a citizen to petition it to request to die.
Since when have many governments obtained permission to kill its own citizens yet do?
Soapbox aside I really don’t believe there is going to be a great benefit, compared to the cost of declaring globally suicide is a reasonable choice, especially since most teen suicides are for tragic reasons, that is the problem was really not a problem yet the teen killed herself.
Beverelliee
1, December 19, 2012 at 10:39 am
My stance is just a tad bit different. I don’t think it should be legalized anywhere for anyone. Nor do I think it should be illegal. I don’t believe suicide, or for that matter abortion or marriage, is the business of any government.
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yes, except that our societal matrix will not allow for this sort of ‘tribal’ caring and governance….
Andrea, people sometimes are not aware of the level of constant chronic pain people can be in and have to live with that is not terminal, absent suicide or euthanasia.
If parental consent should be required for this, should it also be required for a minor to have an abortion?
My stance is just a tad bit different. I don’t think it should be legalized anywhere for anyone. Nor do I think it should be illegal. I don’t believe suicide, or for that matter abortion or marriage, is the business of any government.
They should not be there to tell us who, what, where, why, when and how. If anything we the people should be defining what they the government is allowed to regulate.
If I choose to take my life, it is my decision. Where will it end? Will you allow government to regulate how many tattoos or body piercings you are allowed? How large a soda you may purchase? Oh, wait…
“I have been a long supporter of the right to die as a basic human right.”
That is one right they can’t take away from us.
It is the only right that is absolutely guaranteed too. 😉
I dont see why Youths in Asia who are coal minors should be treated any different.
Minors should be treated just as equally as any other occupation. Particularly coal minors. However, diamond minors have stars in their eyes and might think that if they croak they will go to heaven. Instead they will be buried in the dirt near the coal mine waiting for some coal minor to dig them up by accident. Leave it to the socialists to discriminate against or in favor of minors.
“If parental consent is required, do you believe children should be allowed to elect euthanasia?”
Yes. Mike S. said it well.
Yes. Under the proper circumstances and with parental consent.
boggles this mind…….in a more perfect, less manipulated world, ….perhaps….I am not ready to wholeheartedly give minors anything but protection…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CE0Q904gtMI
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE0Q904gtMI&w=560&h=315%5D
I think as long as there is parental consent, and maybe a medical diagnosis indicating terminal illness (the same kind of diagnosis required to get hospice care), I don’t see a problem. I watched my mother die of cancer earlier this year, and over the course of 2 months, she lost the ability to walk, move her wheelchair, stand, support her weight at all, eat, speak, swallow, move her eyes, and more. Luckily, she didn’t linger the way many cancer patients do, but I know she would have chosen this had it been an option. I know if she had lingered for months once she was in the latest stages, I would have been furious for her to not have this option.
But will it still be illegal to choose to have sex for money before you legally choose to kill yourself? Oh wait, prostitution is legal in Belgium. Ah, now I see, prostitution leads to suicide!
(reasoning coming to you soon from the good folks of the US legislature)
Given proper safeguards I think it is fine. We all should have the ability to decide if we want to opt out of this thing we call life. Life should’t be a lifetime sentence for anyone.
Suicide is the ultimate human right. As for minors, I think that should be based on whether the jursidiction allows minors to be tried as adults. IF they do I find it hard to then say that the person is “too young/immature” to decide a issue that only affects them. (tongue only half in cheek;-))
“I have been a long supporter of the right to die as a basic human right. However, I have great reservations about allowing minors to make such a decision. The articles that I have read do not mention parental consent, which I assume is required in such cases. If parental consent is required, do you believe children should be allowed to elect euthanasia?”
If it is based on a sound medical diagnosis, parental consent, and the minor’s understanding of the facts, it gets closer to a humane concept.
I am of the position that a persons choice to end their life, not taking anyone else down with them should be able to do exactly that…..
Suppose it is already decided that minors should be allowed to refuse life-prolonging treatment. On what grounds, then, should they be denied access to life-ending treatments?