Euthanasia has become normalised in Belgium. Accounting to official figures, about 1 death in 50 is due to euthanasia – and a large proportion are not officially reported. The picture conveyed by the media and by the Belgian euthanasia commission is melancholy but positive – miserable people are released from their suffering, supported by their loved ones. All the doctors comply fully with the law and there are no difficulties or abuses.
This is changing. A complaint about the euthanasia of a woman named Tine Nys in 2010 has cast shadows over this placid panorama. Her two sisters pursued three doctors through the courts for ten years until they were put on trial in 2020 for unlawfully poisoning her. The sisters contended that she was not terminally ill, even though she was suffering from serious depression. All three doctors were acquitted.-- More...
