by NexDev | October 30, 2015 | Bioethics, Medically Assisted Procreation
The Angers University Hospital announced on Thursday October 29, 2015 that an enquiry had been opened after the accidental destruction of 17 ovocyte samples conserved in a container of liquid nitrogen during the night of October 18-19. The Agency for medicine, the Regional Health Agency, and the Biomedical Agency were all three convoked. The biomedical agency must name an expert following this incident.
The priority of the caretakers’ teams is to inform the 17 patients concerned. “It is very important to underline that this incident does not hinder the possibility of planned pregnancies. The ovules concerned had been conserved as part of the treatment which could impact the patient fertility” the hospital specified.
In 2013, 469 incidents had been documented by the Biomedical Agency, and 56 incidents led to the loss of gametes and embryos in 2014.
by NexDev | October 29, 2015 | End of life, News
A case of euthanasia was submitted to the Court for the first time in 13 years by the Federal control and evaluation commission on the application of the law concerning euthanasia: this case concerns an octogenarian who is not at the end of life.
This affair has been publicized by the documentary Allow me to die (at 20’35 then 38’) shown in Australia last September.
This film presents several cases of euthanasia, and underlines the extensive interpretations in Belgian law.
The case before the court concerns an 85-year-old woman, named as “Simona” in the documentary. She lives in a home for elderly people, has a social life, and no particular health problems.
She explains that she no longer wants to live, grieving from the loss of her daughter 3 months earlier. The video then shows a live broadcast of her death, carried out with the assistance of Dr. Van Hoey, on June 22, 2015. Her other daughter, with whom she has not been in contact for over 30 years, was not notified. The doctor is the president of the association “Recht op waardig sterven”, the equivalent in Flanders of the Association of the Right to Die in Dignity.
According to the article in the Libre Belgique on October 28, 2015 which gave a complete account of the story, this case presents several infractions to the law:
“Simone is not suffering from any physical problem which would lead to horrible suffering or any psychic disorder. On camera, Dr Marc Van Hoey, her family practitioner, concurs. “She does not want to die because she is depressed. No. Just because she has had enough. Had enough of life? That is not a medical diagnosis that fits into the conditions set out by the law of 2002.
When interviewed by the journalist, the doctor explained that he will indicate “reactive depression” on the declaration of euthanasia and specified that it is impossible to treat. There again, one can question: does one finish grieving in three months…Were all the treatments made available?
Furthermore, the doctor did not consult a third colleague, as specified by the law on euthanasia when the demise of a patient is not foreseen in the short term future. Why? “No problem”, responds again Dr Van Hoey to the Australian journalist. How can he be so sure? “My experience.” »
What is underlined in the report is that it consists of an assisted suicide in the measure where this woman herself takes the lethal product in a glass of water given to her by the doctor, which is not authorized under Belgian law.
The commission on euthanasia control, which has dealt with more than 8000 officially declared cases of euthanasia since 2002, has given a broader interpretation for applying the law.
Several recent cases have been the subject of harsh criticism on the international level, such as that of the young Laura, 24 years old, in good physical health, but suffering from depression, who obtained an authorization for euthanasia this summer.
by NexDev | October 28, 2015 | Bioethics, News
On Tuesday October 27, 2015, the joint Commission counting seven deputies and seven senators were unable to agree on a common version of the Health bill.
This bill which was object of an accelerated procedure had been voted by the National Assembly on April 14, but the text voted in the Senate on October 6, had modified many points. The mixed parity Commission was thus charged with proposing a text on the contentious points remaining to be discussed, but could not achieve a consensus.
Certain points contain important bioethical issues. In particular, organ donation, human embryo research, funeral care and the objective contracts linking the Regional Health Agencies to the health establishments concerning abortion, are still discussed.
The text will first be submitted starting from November 16 to a new hearing at the National Assembly, then most likely in the Senate at the beginning of December. The bill will be definitely adopted by the Parliament by the end of 2015, the Assembly having the final word in case disagreement persists between the two chambers.
Concerning the main points on abortion measures, they were voted in the same terms by the two Chambers and cannot be modified: elimination of the one-week delay for reflection for abortion, authorization given to Health Centers to practice surgical abortion and for midwives to practice medical abortion (still remaining to discuss the necessity or not of incorporating the training of this practice into their initial studies).
Alliance VITA has denounced many times the absence of a true prevention policy for abortion, and considers that “incorporating help for women whose pregnancy in unplanned or difficult is essential for abortion not to be a fatality”. The Group Midwives for tomorrow equally took position, concerned about the new role to be given to them: « By making us support the ultra-sensitive question of medically induced abortion (half of all current abortions), it’s the whole balance of our profession that risks to be turned upside down. »
by NexDev | October 28, 2015 | Bioethics, Medically Assisted Procreation
While the Belgian Senate has been examining for several months a report concerning gestational surrogacy, a survey by the Institute for Dedicated Research reveals that for the majority of Belgians this question is not a political priority.
This survey, sponsored by Action for the Family – Actie voor het Gezin, equally reveals that 57% of those questioned were not in favor of this practice. Without being formally forbidden, gestational surrogacy is practiced in a limited manner in three reproductive centers. Between 150 and 200 children have been born in 20 years.
The group of women from the central party (Humanistic Central Democrats) has clearly expressed their opposition to all legalization, in a forum a few days ago which appears in the Libre Belgique.
However the legalization of gestational surrogacy is not on the legislative agenda in Belgium. Since the last State reform (2012), the Senate no longer has the power of initiative legislation: this report appears to be a form of pressure on the House of Representatives.
by NexDev | October 27, 2015 | News
Jean Mercier, 87 years old, was condemned on October 27, 2015 by the correctional court in Saint-Etienne to a one-year suspended prison sentence for “non-assistance to a person in danger of death “, after having helped his sick and depressed wife commit suicide in 2011.
Josanne Mercier, 83 years old at the time, was suffering from chronic pain due to osteoarthritis (1) for the past three years. She had been depressed for 30 years and had already attempted suicide several times. Her husband attended to her care for numerous years, while he himself was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and prostate cancer. But on November 10, 2011, he finally relinquished to her request and helped her to ingest a large quantity of medicine, waiting until she died to call a doctor.
An active protestor for the Association for the Right to Die in Dignity and strongly supported by the president Jean-Luc Romero, Jean Mercier asserted several times that he didn’t have any regrets. Since 2015, he had however declared that it took him « infinitely more courage to perform this gesture, something horrible and very difficult, than it took for me to fight in Indochina.”
He was tried both for voluntary homicide, which was dismissed at the issue of the instruction, and for non-assistance to a person in danger of death (2). In November 2014, his lawyer pleaded a priority preliminary ruling on constitutionality, considering that the European Convention on Human Rights does not exclude assisted suicide and that France should legalize it. This priority preliminary ruling on constitutionality was rejected by the High Court in Saint Etienne on February 3, 2015.
The audience before the correctional Court of the same city was held last September 22nd. The prosecutor for the Republic considered that the offense constitutes a non-assistance to a person in danger of death, considering that Mr. Mercier could have called for help in the lapse of time between absorbing the lethal medicine and the death of his spouse: “He had the possibility to act which he did not do, because he was afraid to be reprimanded if she regained life”. The prosecutor requested minimum penalty of three years suspended prison sentence.
At the announcement of the verdict condemning Mr. Mercier to a one year suspended prison sentence, his lawyer considered that it was “an absurd decision” and announced that he would appeal the decision.
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(1) Very common, osteoarthritis results from a breakdown of cartilage which covers the bone extremities in the joints. Affecting millions of French people, it becomes more frequent upon aging.
(2) Article 223-6 of the penal Code: “Whoever can prohibit by his immediate action, without immediate risk for himself or others, either a criminal offence or a felony against bodily harm of the person by voluntarily refraining to do so is punishable by five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 €. The same punishment is applicable to those who voluntarily refrain from helping a person in need of assistance, whom without risk for himself or others, he could help either by personal action or by calling for help”.
