Exposing Vulnerable People to Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

The global euthanasia movement is agitating to overturn centuries of legal protection for people with chronic, disabling, and terminal illnesses. Euthanasia campaigners insist that Belgium and the Netherlands have perfected their euthanasia laws. This book shows that euthanasia has not been “made safe” for vulnerable people in those countries. Euthanasia advocates tell us that the practice of euthanasia never exceeds the limits of law. In court cases, policy studies and media stories in favour of euthanasia, advocates claim that Belgium’s euthanasia records are complete and transparent. The fact is, official reports do not disclose the scale of euthanasia in Belgium. Belgium’s doctors do not adhere strictly to the euthanasia laws. Almost half of those euthanized in Belgium were never reported to the authorities. Many of the dead have never given a legal request for their own euthanasia deaths. Elderly people in nursing homes make up a large fraction of those who are euthanized without permission, and outside the reporting laws. The official euthanasia story from Belgium has been accepted at face value by the authors of influential reports and court decisions that are pushing nations to make euthanasia legal in Canada, and around the world. Official accounts of euthanasia in Belgium are dangerously incomplete. This booklet examines the record of euthanasia in Belgium, and exposes what these reports have intentionally overlooked. Alex has provided an invaluable service to those who wish to become fully informed of the dangers of euthanasia to the most vulnerable human beings among us.