A Catholic care home in Belgium has been fined for refusing euthanasia to one of its residents.
St Augustine rest home, in Diest, prevented doctors from giving a lethal injection to Mariette Buntjens, a 74- year-old woman suffering from lung cancer. As a result, the rest home was ordered to pay 6,000 euros for causing Mariette "unnecessary mental and physical suffering."
No right to conscientious objection
Buntjens’ family sued the nursing home, despite her passing away naturally ‘in peaceful surroundings’, and their complaint was upheld in a civil court in Louvain. The judges ruled that "the nursing home had no right to refuse euthanasia on the basis of conscientious objection".
The home was fined 3,000 euros and each of Buntjens’ three adult children also received 1,000 euros in compensation.
The fine came as a result of Belgium’s law which does not allow anyone other than individual medical professionals to refuse euthanasia requests.
Concerns have been raised that this could lead to the closure of many other Catholic nursing homes across Belgium, as under the law these institutions do not have the right to intervene in doctor patient agreements.
This is a worrying development for those living in these care homes and relying on their support.
Labour MP Rob Flello told the Catholic Herald: "There is a real risk that care homes will now close across Belgium with tragic consequences to those people who are in them and who may in future need them.
"It is an absolute tragedy that euthanasia is now seen to be a right. If you look around the world, anywhere assisted suicide has been introduced there is a constant erosion of any safeguards that have been put in place. This a further leap down the slippery path warned about time and time again and it shows that those warnings were true."
'Unbearable suffering'
Belgium legalised euthanasia in 2003, and now has one of the most liberal approaches in the world to the procedure.
In 2014, euthanasia was legalised for children of any age and is available to people who describe themselves as having "unbearable psychological suffering". One such case was the euthanasia of Tine Nys, a 37-year-old woman with autism, after the breakdown of her relationship.
The number of people to die by euthanasia in Belgium has more than doubled in the last five years, with more than 2,000 people ending their lives this way last year.
Euthanasia 'on demand'
In March this year a law was proposed in Belgium that, if introduced, would have stopped doctors from denying euthanasia requests from patients.
If passed, requests for assisted suicide would also have had to be considered as urgent, so doctors would not have been allowed to ask patients to wait in case they changed their minds.
Such proposals have raised serious concerns about the eventual shift to euthanasia ‘on demand’ and the implications this would have on vulnerable patients.
Related Links:
Catholic care home in Belgium fined for refusing euthanasia (Catholic Herald)
Belgian woman euthanised after heartbreak
Belgium proposes 'death on demand' law