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Belgian doctors under investigation for illegal euthanasia

Around ten cases of supposed illegal euthanasia are being investigated in Belgium after allegations were received through an anonymous letter to the public prosecutor.

The public prosecutor in Leuven is investigating cases of euthanasia which may not have been carried out according to the proper legal procedure.

The newspaper De Standaard received a letter, which has not been released, and is reported to say:

“Our family member passed away two years ago, and we were told that euthanasia was presumed to have been carried out without the doctors informing us or following the necessary procedure. This is a very traumatic experience for us”.

In Belgium, doctors are not required to notify family members if a person wants to be euthanised, although the medical associations do recommend telling them. Two doctors are named in the letter with allegations concerning their private practice.

Professor Wim Distelmans, chair of the Federal Control and Evaluation Committee on Euthanasia, was contacted in the summer of 2019 and asked if he might be willing to give his advice on the matter. His committee ought to be informed about every case of euthanasia, but that doesn’t always happen. “Some doctors are happy to admit that”, he said.

“What doctors write down, we naturally take for granted as true”, he continued. “Apart from that, and rightly so, everyone is free to file a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office if they think they have reason to”.

Expanding euthanasia law

Earlier this year, a Dutch doctor escaped prosecution despite having euthanised a dementia patient against her express wish. The Dutch government has also recently said it would be changing the regulations to allow doctors to end the lives of terminally ill children between the ages of one and twelve.

Belgium legalised euthanasia in 2002, and since then the practise has even been extended to children. The current law allows euthanasia if the patient is in a state of constant physical or psychological pain.

There is now a renewed push for euthanasia to be available for those who are healthy but have decided they have a “fulfilled life”.

The President of Belgium’s Liberal Party, Gwendolyn Rutten, told the Brussels Times: “We must be able to choose the right to die not only when we are suffering in an intolerable way but also when our lives are fulfilled and we request to do it explicitly, freely, independently and firmly”.

In 2018 there were a total of 2,357 reported assisted suicides in Belgium, up from 2,309 in the previous year. Since 2010, there has been a 247% increase in just 8 years.

Right To Life UK’s spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “The details of this ongoing case are scant at the moment, but as Professor Distelmans, one of Belgium’s top euthanasia overseers, said, some doctors are happy to admit that they do not follow the proper procedures”. 

It seems to be a pattern among nations that have legalised euthanasia where certain actors, sometimes doctors, sometimes patients, push the boundaries of the law, and occasionally even break the law. Sadly, as we’ve seen in the Netherlands, the law is not enforced but rather reinterpreted to accommodate what appears to be a formerly illegal practice. A similarly sad case occurred in Canada last year following the euthanising of Alan Nichols, a former school caretaker, who was physically healthy but struggled with depression. As a result of his death, the legal requirement that a person be terminally ill before administration of euthanasia was dropped”.
The ever-expanding nature of euthanasia and assisted suicide laws as seen in these countries should be a sober lesson for countries like England and Wales where legal protections still exist for the vulnerable against such practices”.

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Dear reader,

We are facing two major threats in the Lords - an extreme assisted suicide Bill and an abortion up to birth amendment.

THE GOOD NEWS - OUR STRATEGY IS WORKING

At Second Reading of the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill in the House of Lords, a record number of Peers spoke, and of those who took a position, around two-thirds opposed the assisted suicide Bill. That is more than double the number who supported it.

Our side also secured a significant win, with the establishment of a dedicated Lords Select Committee to further scrutinise the Bill’s proposals – and Committee Stage has been delayed until it reports.

This momentum has been built by tens of thousands of people like you. Thanks to your hard work, Peers are receiving a very large number of emails and letters by post, making the case against the Bill. 

Thanks to your support, we have been able to mount a major campaign in Parliament, in the media and online – alongside your own efforts – to keep us on course for our goal: that this dangerous Bill never becomes law.

BUT MORE CHALLENGES LIE AHEAD

We cannot become complacent. Well-funded groups - Dignity in Dying, My Death My Decision and Humanists UK - have poured millions into pushing assisted suicide. They can see support is slipping and will fight hard to reverse that.

This is not the only fight we are facing in the House of Lords.

At the same time, the Antoniazzi abortion up to birth amendment, which passed in the House of Commons in June, is moving through the House of Lords as part of the Crime and Policing Bill.

Second Reading will take place in a matter of weeks. It will then go on to Committee and Report Stages, where we will be up against the UK’s largest abortion providers – BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes) – who are expected to lobby for even more extreme changes to our abortion laws.

If the Antoniazzi amendment becomes law, it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason – including sex-selective purposes – at any point up to and during birth.

Thousands of vulnerable lives - at the beginning and the end of life - depend on what happens next. We must do everything in our power to stop these radical proposals.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Our campaign against the Leadbeater Bill in the House of Lords is working, but the work we have already done has significantly stretched our limited resources.

We are now stepping up our efforts against the assisted suicide Bill while launching a major push to stop the abortion up to birth amendment in the Lords. 

To fight effectively on both fronts, we aim to raise £183,750 by midnight this Sunday (5 October 2025).

Every donation, large or small, will help protect lives, and UK taxpayers can add 25p to every £1 through Gift Aid at no extra cost.

Will you donate now to help protect vulnerable lives from these two major threats?

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