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Euthanasia and assisted suicide

In 2024, 3,991 euthanasia cases were recorded in Belgium by the Commission responsible for reviewing them, marking a clear increase (+16.6%) compared to 2023. Euthanasia is thus becoming an increasingly frequent way of dying in this country, accounting for 3.6% of deaths recorded in 2024. In the face of this ever-increasing societal trend, the Commission reiterates its need for adequate infrastructure and sufficient resources ‘to guarantee the efficiency and rigour of the euthanasia...

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Pregnancy

For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration has authorised a clinical protocol for in utero treatment on a foetus diagnosed with type 1 spinal muscular atrophy, which in its most severe forms limits life expectancy to 2 years. The results published in February 2025 in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest new avenues for the prenatal treatment of this disease. This disease is caused by a mutation of the SMN1 gene (for Survival Motor Neuron) which causes severe and progressive...

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The procedure began in 2018, when the uterus of a brain-dead donor was transplanted into a woman suffering from Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome. This syndrome is characterised by the total or partial absence of a vagina and an underdeveloped or non-existent uterus. To achieve pregnancy in these conditions, embryos were conceived by in vitro fertilisation prior to the transplant and subsequently re-implanted once doctors had established that the transplanted uterus had not been...

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According to a study published in 2024 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, donations of foetal tissue after abortion have increased significantly in the Netherlands, from 1.2% (8 donations out of 663 abortions) to 21.7% (132 donations out of 609 abortions), following the creation of a Dutch foetal biobank. For the authors of the study, incorporating donation options into post-abortion advice could ‘ethically improve tissue acquisition for continued medical progress’.

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Euthanasia and assisted suicide

Hearings are continuing in the Federal Parliament on the proposed law to extend euthanasia to people who have become incapable of expressing their wishes, on the basis of an advance declaration. On Wednesday 22 January, two experts from the Netherlands presented the implications of such an extension, based on the Dutch experience. Their informed and critical experience provided food for thought about the social and ethical implications of extending euthanasia to patients who are no longer...

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In its latest report on palliative care in Belgium, published on 16 January 2025, the KCE recommends setting up a palliative middle care service to complement existing provision. This intermediate care would be situated between routine and non-urgent care on the one hand, and the hospital on the other, particularly for patients who do not require care in a hospital or palliative care unit and who cannot be cared for at home or in a nursing home. The KCE stresses the importance of diversifying...

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Euthanasia and assisted suicide

An Open Vld bill, co-signed by the PS, was tabled in the House last September. It aims to ‘extend the advance declaration of euthanasia to people who have become incapable of expressing their wishes’. Experts are currently being heard to consider the medical, social and ethical implications of such an extension. What is the medical definition of unconsciousness and incapacity, and how do we know if the situation is irreversible? The experts interviewed and the Members of Parliament are faced w...

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Abortion

The study was based on all second trimester abortions (13,777) performed in the hospitals of Quebec between 1989 and 2021. In Quebec, the law does not stipulate a maximum time limit for performing an abortion. The researchers found that abortions performed during the second trimester of pregnancy due to fetal anomalies doubled between the period 1989 - 2000 and 2011-2021. At the same time, they observed a significant increase in live births following a second-trimester abortion: the rate of...

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Euthanasia and assisted suicide

Between 2018 and 2023, more than 400 criminal offences involving euthanasia were recorded in Ontario. In 2024, doctors revealed this figure to the press, highlighting the facts contained in various reports from the authorities responsible for monitoring euthanasia deaths in this Canadian province. While the Canadian authorities boast of the rigour of the legislative framework for this practice, we note on the contrary that these compliance problems have not led to any law enforcement...

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Euthanasia and assisted suicide

The 10th ‘Sympadot’ symposium, organised on 21 November by the Transplantation Department of Brussels University Hospital (Erasme), focused on organ donation and transplantation. Among the topics discussed was the deliberately provocative question: ‘Euthanasia, a pathway to the futur? According to the speakers, the aim is to promote an ‘end-of-life project’ that would include organ donation. Is this an attempt to promote an altruistic gesture to divert...

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