Here's ours (Belgium)

Post #197,051 by scoenye 3/3/05 2:27:24 PM Reply	Here's ours (Belgium) The doctor has to assure for himself that the patient is an adult or emancipated minor who is not incapacitated and who is conscious at the time the request is made; that the request is voluntary, considered and repeated and that it is made free of any external pressure; and finally that the patient is in a medically hopeless condition of continuous and unbearable physical or psychic suffering that cannot be alleviated, and that this is the outcome of a serious and incurable affliction caused by illness or accident. The MD also has to: inform the patient about his/her condition and the expected remaining lifespan, and council the patient on possible alternatives; have several conversations with the patient re. the request, spread over a reasonable amount of time consult a second MD who is independent of himself and the patient and competent to judge the condition. This second MD must come to the same conclusion re. the illness, the pain and suffering, and the inability to alleviate it and will write his own report. discuss the request with the patient's nursing team, if there is one; discuss the request with any next-of-kin indicated by the patient; ensure that the patient has had the opportunity to discuss the request with people s/he wanted to; If the doctor thinks the patient is not going to die within the near future, a psychiatric report is required. The psychiatrist has to be indepent of the treating physician, the second MD already called in, and the patient. The psychiatrist also has to come to the same conculsion re. the patient's condition. If they match, the treating physician has to wait at least a month between the request and the act of euthanasia. The request itself must be in writing, by the patient, and signed and dated by the patient. If the patient is incapable of writing the document, it can be written up by an adult of the patient's choice and who stands nothing to gain from the patient's death. In that case, the treating physician has to be present when the document is drawn up. The patient can retract the request at any time, at which point it is removed from the file and returned to the patient. It is also possible to set up a witnessed living will requesting euthanasia to head of the case of being incapacitated. The treating physician still has to go through all steps mentioned above. All acts of euthanasia have to be reported to an evaluation commission. This commission will investigate all cases in order to ascertain that all conditions were met. If any condition is not met, it's still murder.
Post #197,362 by Another Scott 3/6/05 11:32:34 AM Reply	Thanks. Sounds like a good system. What happens in case of a sudden accident like Shiavo's case? She was fine, had some sort of chemical imbalance and suddenly became effectively brain dead. Would she be kept alive for decades in Belgium? My feeling is that people should have the right to refuse treatment and have the right to pain mitigation. The question is, how much documentation is required and who gets to act as my agent when I'm unable to indicate my wishes with sufficient documentation before hand? In Shiavo's case, I think her husband should be her agent and I think it's clear that she should have been permitted to die a very long time ago. Cheers, Scott.
Post #197,388 by scoenye 3/6/05 2:52:33 PM Reply	Depends on the severity of the injury If the patient is effectively braindead, treatment can be halted. In lesser cases, that is not possible, even if there is no prognosis for revcovery. This legislation is about three years old and is still in its original form. Given our heavily Roman Catholic cultural heritage, this was about as far as it could be pushed the first time around. The first reports of the evaluation commission came out a couple of months ago. Everyone has been behaving respectably, it seems, and a number of issues were raised which are now serving as the basis to amend the law. The debates to expand the law are considering issues like the coma cases without living will, minors with incurable forms of cancer and patients suffering from longterm and severe clincal depressions. There is significant support for the first two issues, but the third one is controversial to say the least.

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