When Euthanasia Crosses the Line into Murder

Wherever you stand on the issue of euthanasia, you would have to admit that consent must be given the highest order of importance during the process. After all, without consent you can’t rightly call it euthanasia anymore can you? At that point it’s just plain old murder, right? Don’t tell that to the doctors in Belgium though, where euthanasia has been legal since 2002. A few of them at least, seem to be more than willing to “jump the gun” on so many of their elderly patients.

A study published this month in the Journal of Medical Ethics examined the “deliberate” euthanasia of patients in Belgium without their explicit, voluntary consent as required by law.

The study’s author, Raphael Cohen-Almagor, a professor of philosophy and ethics at the United Kingdom’s Hull University, found that life-ending drugs were used “with the intention to shorten life and without explicit request” in 1.7 percent of all deaths in Belgium in 2013.

In 52.7 percent of these cases, the patients were 80 years of age or older. The decision to euthanize was not discussed with the patient in 77.9 percent of the cases because he/she was comatose, had dementia, or “because discussion would have been harmful to the patient’s best interest,” according to the study.

That last sentence is chilling isn’t it? Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that Belgian medical staff have been outed for straight up murdering their patients. In 2010, the Daily Mail reported on the admission of 100 nurses, who claimed that they’d participated in the euthanization of patients (if you can call it that) without their consent.

More than 100 nurses admitted to researchers that they had taken part in ‘terminations without request or consent’.

Although euthanasia is legal in Belgium, it is governed by strict rules which state it should be carried out only by a doctor and with the patient’s permission.

The disturbing revelation  –  which shows that nurses regularly go well beyond their legal role  –  raises fears that were assisted suicides allowed in Britain, they could never be properly regulated.

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Contributed by Joshua Krause of The Daily Sheeple.

Joshua Krause is a reporter, writer and researcher at The Daily Sheeple. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and is a freelance writer and author. You can follow Joshua’s reports at Facebook or on his personal Twitter. Joshua’s website is Strange Danger .