Belgium set to become first country to legalize euthanasia for terminally ill children

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/13/belgium-set-to-become-first-country-to-legalize-euthanasia-for-terminally-ill-children/

Belgium set to become first country to legalize euthanasia for terminally ill children
By Reuters
Thursday, February 13, 2014 12:49 EST
By Robert-Jan Bartunek

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgium was due to become the first country to allow euthanasia for terminally ill children of any age on Thursday when its lower house of parliament votes on new “right-to-die” legislation.

The draft law, which has already cleared the Belgian Senate, goes beyond pioneering Dutch legislation that set a minimum age of 12 for children judged mature enough to decide to end their lives.

The bill has popular support in Belgium, where adult euthanasia became legal in 2002. It should easily pass in the Chamber of Representatives because most opposition parties will support it along with the governing Socialists and liberals.

The Christian Democrats, although members of Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo’s coalition, oppose the bill. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders have denounced it in a rare joint declaration and Catholic bishops have led days of prayer and fasting against it.

[tblue37]

1. This troubles me. I think euthanasia should require the informed and uncoerced consent

of the patient. A child cannot give such consent, and a child is too easy to pressure if his illness becomes burdensome to the adults around him.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. the law requires informed consent.

But do you really believe that forcing a child to suffer a painful inevitable lingering death is an act of compassion?