Doctor Kills Depressed Woman in Euthanasia, Doesn’t Tell Family Until Next Day

Life News ^ | 9/4/14 | Alex Schadenberg

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Alliance Defending Freedom filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights Wednesday on behalf of Tom Mortier, who is challenging Belgium’s laws that allow euthanasia. Mortier’s mother was put to death by a doctor for “untreatable depression” even though she was not terminally ill. Mortier did not find out what had happened until he received a telephone call the day after her death.

“The government has an obligation to protect life, not assist in promoting death,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Robert Clarke. “A person can claim that she should be able to do whatever she pleases, but that does not override the government’s responsibility to protect the weak and vulnerable. We are encouraging the European Court to uphold this principle, which is completely consistent with the European Convention on Human Rights.”

Oncologist Wim Distelmans killed Godelieva De Troyer, a Belgium citizen who was not terminally ill, because of “untreatable depression” in April 2012 after receiving consent from three other physicians who had no previous involvement with her care. De Troyer’s doctor of more than 20 years had denied her request to be euthanized in September 2011, but after a 2,500 EUR donation to Life End Information Forum, an organization co-founded by Distelmans, he carried out her request to die because of the depression. The donation gives rise to an apparent conflict of interest.

No one contacted Mortier before his mother’s death despite the fact that he says her depression was not only largely the result of a break-up with a man, but also due to her feelings of distance from her family.

Distelmans has no psychiatric qualifications, and none of the doctors involved had any enduring doctor-patient relationship with De Troyer. In addition, the commission the government established to investigate any failure to observe the euthanasia law has been led, since its creation, by Distelmans. Despite evidence of widespread abuse of the law, the commission has never referred a case to the prosecutor.

As the ADF application explains, “The institutions of the Council of Europe have shown consistent opposition to the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia…. [T]he only positive duty on a State is the positive duty to protect life.”

The application argues that Belgium’s law, which now allows children to be killed as well, has gone too far:

“the balance has shifted unacceptably in favour of personal autonomy at the expense of the important public interest and a State’s obligation under Article 2 (the right to life).”

“People suffering from depression need compassion and love, not a prescription for death,” said ADF Senior Counsel Roger Kiska. “The state has a duty to put the necessary safeguards in place so that suffering patients receive adequate care from doctors and an opportunity to consult with family members.”

ADF is also involved at the ECHR in defending Switzerland’s denial of suicide drugs to a woman who does not suffer from any fatal disease. That case, Gross v. Switzerland, is very similar to a previous case, Haas v. Switzerland, in which the ECHR in 2011 unanimously rejected the claim that Switzerland had an obligation to assist individuals in committing suicide.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organisation that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

LifeNews.com Note: Alex Schadenberg is the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and you can read his blog here.

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“The government has an obligation to protect life, not assist in promoting death,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Robert Clarke. “A person can claim that she should be able to do whatever she pleases, but that does not override the government’s responsibility to protect the weak and vulnerable."

Exactly!

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[yldstrk]

People suffering from depression are correct. It’s the ones that don’t suffer from depression that are nuts, thinking everything will be alright. It won’t. It isn’t.

[Cen-Tejas]

I just think if some docs (who by the way are not omnipotent) got together and decided to kill my mother (for her own good) that I should be (legally) a part of that process.

And, oh by the way, so should other siblings .

[jonno]

People suffering from depression are correct...

About what - that everything is not alright?

[yldstrk]

Yes, that people will betray you, that people are greedy, that people value sex over all else, that people and the world are disgusting and depraved.

[Mr. K]

let’s say you have a million dollars in term life insurance, and the term is about to expire after 20 years or so...

If the government kills you, do you collect?

[BuffaloJack]

Has Belgium suddenly become Nazi Germany?
Euthanasia might be legal in Belgium, but if this ever happened to a relative of mine, I’d be obliged to hunt down and disappear everyone involved in the decision for death.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

“Untreatable” depression? I don’t care how depressed i ever got, if I saw Obama in handcuffs doing the perp walk for treason I would be one happy ass camper.

[onedoug]

Clinical murder and murderers.

[Dallas59]

[verga]

Color me stupid. I don't understand the term: "Untreatable Depression."

My limited knowledge of medicine tells me that every disease is "Treatable". It is the level of success that may vary from patient to patient.

[jonno]

On the whole, I agree.

[B4Ranch]

>>My limited knowledge of medicine tells me that every disease is “Treatable”.<<

Does “Quality of Life” ever enter into your decisions? Too many doctors will treat you for any and every symptom that you can think of with no consideration of the side effects of the treatment or medicines prescribed. Sorry, but I do understand people not wanting to suffer unnecessarily.

[slowhandluke]

People suffering from depression are correct. It’s the ones that don’t suffer from depression that are nuts, thinking everything will be alright. It won’t. It isn’t.

Not always. The author Amy Tan fell into deep depression. It turned out to be caused by Lyme's disease and was totally treatable.

Spirochetes like syphilis and borrellia love to mess around in nerve tissue. Penicillin emptied the insane asylum of all the tertiary syphilis cases. Borrellia is unlikely to be the only bug that can cause depression. The doc's just don't look for such causes for depression.

Killing the depressed is the easy way out for the doctor and the state. The state saves money, the doctor gets to think that they did something for the patient.

[Alamo-Girl]

Jeepers ... thanks for the ping.

[verga]

Does “Quality of Life” ever enter into your decisions? Too many doctors will treat you for any and every symptom that you can think of with no consideration of the side effects of the treatment or medicines prescribed. Sorry, but I do understand people not wanting to suffer unnecessarily.

Euthanasia is wrong. God is going to take you on His schedule, not yours. allowing a person to die with dignity is one thing, but you don't need to hasten the process. That whole fifth commandment thing.

[BykrBayb]

There shouldn’t be any such process in the first place.