Belgium has released statistics on euthanasia that are very telling.
A recent study shows that 30 percent of reported euthanasia cases in one region of the European country were performed without the patient's consent. Rita Marker of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide is not surprised. She believes that once euthanasia is considered a medical treatment, the practice of killing an ailing patient becomes normal and is done in spite of supposed safeguards against it.
Rita Marker (International Tasf Force on Euthanasia and Assited Suicide)"We're not talking here about a slippery slope. We're talking here about transforming everything. We're talking about jumping off of a precipitous cliff so the so-called 'safeguards' are only the window dressing," she contends. "Once you've transformed this into a medical treatment, it just is logical to say, 'Well, this person would really be better off with this treatment.' The treatment just happens to be death."
Currently, an average of two deaths are reported per day -- the number of euthanasia cases increased from 500 in 2008 to 700 in 2009. But Belgium media reports that interviews with doctors have revealed that only one-in-four cases are being accounted for. In some situations, ailing patients were killed even though the prognosis had not yet been reported.
Marker feels that nobody should be surprised by that statistic "because if someone is willing to kill a patient, why would they have any qualms about not reporting it?"
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: May 25, 2010
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