The Belgium government is looking at passing a bill which will allow euthanasia for children. This sparked negative reactions within and outside the country.
The new proposed bill will grant euthanasia, the practice of relieving a patient from medical pain and suffering by intentionally allowing death, for children provided there is parental consent.
Normally, the procedure is done by giving the patient a potent sedative allowing restful sleep prior to the fatal injection of a drug. Another means is by withdrawing life-support systems wherein the patient starves to death in a period of several days.
At present, Belgium is one of the few countries and U.S states that allow euthanasia be performed for legally aged people with terminal diseases and/or dementia.
Those who support the bill say that euthanasia is an option for families who are in pain and desperation to see their kid be alleviated from a terminal sickness.
"The principle of euthanasia for children sounds shocking at first, but it's motivated by compassion and protection. It's unfair to provide euthanasia differentially to some citizens and not to others if the need is equal," said Bioethics Prof. John Harris of the University of Manchester to ABC News.
Other people who are astonished with the new proposal raised the question of the kids’ capability of making a rational decision that is too complicated for even highly mature adults.
The country's Catholic Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard said, "It is strange that minors are considered legally incompetent in key areas, such as getting married, but might (be allowed) to decide to die."
According to Pediatric Oncologist Dr. Gerlant van Berlaer from the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussels Hospital, the bill will only put into law what is already being done in practice. He approximated that between 10 to 100 children euthanasia cases may be occurring each year in Belgium.
"Children have different ways of asking for things, but they face the same questions as adults when they're terminally sick. Sometimes it's a sister who tells us her brother doesn't want to go back to the hospital and is asking for a solution. Today if these families find themselves (in such a situation), we're not able to help them, except in dark and questionable ways," said Dr. Berlaer to CBS News.
