[pf] Fw. Moving towards a euthanasia law in Belgium.

· I was cut off the Positive Futures list 4 days ago, but since it was the
weekend I didn't have a lot of access to this computer so didn't notice
until this (Monday) morning.

· The first one I find I had missed was tully's "[pf] Please read and
forward if you dare" :-
http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/pfvs/2001I/msg00170.html

· I'm in the process of going through the 40 posts from then on, in the Pos
Fut archive:
http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/pfvs/2001I/

· The rest of this, is what I tried to post this morning; "Natasha" of
Topica.com then sent something which told me I'd been cut off.

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· for Pos Fut: 
Here's a Reuters report from a European Government that is a
Socialist-Liberal-Green coalition.   D.

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Delivered-To: davd@d.pop.ihug.co.nz
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 09:36:47 +1300
From: Jonathan Hill <.-.-.@parliament.govt.nz>
To: David MacClement <davd@ihug.co.nz>
Subject: [GNGC]BELGIUM DEFINES LIMITS OF EUTHANASIA BILL

Belgium (Green+ Govt.) Defines Limits Of Euthanasia Bill

Brussels, Jan 14 Reuters - Belgium moved a step closer to legalising
euthanasia on Sunday when lawmakers agreed on a key section of a draft law
setting out conditions under which terminally ill patients may ask a doctor
to end their life.
  After two days of debate at a secluded chateau near Brussels, senators
from two parliamentary working groups hammered out a draft text of a
contentious article defining the circumstances in which patients with
illnesses such as cancer have the right to request euthanasia.
  Although seven more sections remain to be drafted, Article Three was seen
as posing the greatest obstacle.
  If approved, the law would give not only terminally ill patients the
right to request euthanasia, but also patients with incurable diseases who
are in extreme pain but may have years left to live.
  Agreement on this section of Belgium's draft law, expected to be
presented to both chambers of parliament later this year, comes just months
after the Netherlands became the first country to vote to legalise mercy
killings.
  Ending months of debate, a majority of senators finally agreed in the
early hours of Sunday on the controversial Article Three, which is designed
both to afford doctors legal protection for helping patients end their
lives and to prevent abuses.
  But the compromise draft text, adopted on a 17-10 vote, was bitterly
opposed by some senators.
 ``These measures are dangerous. We are one of the very few countries in
the world to propose this kind of measure,'' George Dallemagne, a Christian
Democrat senator, told RTBF television.
  Under the proposed legislation, any patient -- whether in the terminal
stage of his illness or otherwise -- requesting euthanasia must be
conscious when he makes his active, voluntary demand and must persistently
repeat his request.
Senator Gacinta de Roeck said the law would draw a clear distinction
between the conditions that must be fulfilled by terminally ill patients
and those suffering debilitating and intensely painful illnesses.
  In the case of a terminally ill patient, the opinion of a second doctor
must be sought.
 But for a patient not yet near the end of his or her life, the opinion of
a third doctor, who must be either a psychiatrist or a specialist in the
patient's illness, must be sought. In this case, at least a month would
have to lapse between the written and witnessed demand and the act of
euthanasia.
 ``This is a great deal stricter than the Dutch law,'' de Roeck, a member
of the Greens, told Reuters.
  The right-to-die debate in Belgium has been intense with the ruling
Socialist-Liberal-Green coalition's proposal to decriminalise some forms of
euthanasia meeting strong resistance from the Christian Democrats.

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sent on to Positive Futures by David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.geocities.com/davdd.geo/index.html#top
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