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Euthanasia Without Terminal Illness: Should it Be Legal?

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Laura, a 24-year-old woman without a terminal illnesses, is making headlines after she qualified for euthanasia in Belgium. Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person’s life to relieve them from a form of suffering. Although Laura does not have a life-threatening sickness, she has qualified for this procedure due to the depression she has dealt with for several years. We typically do not hear of stories like this occurring in the U.S. because there are very few states that have legalized euthanasia and there are strict regulations, including that the patient has to be terminally ill. However that’s not the case everywhere, and while the date of Laura’s death has not been decided yet, her story has raised many questions about the ethics of euthanasia worldwide.

Laura’s argument is pretty straightforward. She has been a patient of a psychiatric institution for the past three years and stated that she has tried to kill herself on multiple occasions. During both her childhood and adult life she suffered from “suicidal thoughts.” She told journalists, “Death feels to me not as a choice. If I had a choice, I would choose a bearable life, but I have done everything and that was unsuccessful.”

Although most states in the U.S. have not legalized it, seven out of ten Americans back euthanasia. The U.S., and other developed countries, can learn from the proliferation of the practice in various European nations. In 2002 Belgium became only the second country to legalize euthanasia, following the Netherlands. This allowed Belgian doctors to help patients end their lives if they expressed a wish to die to relieve suffering. Any competent adults and emancipated minors can request this procedure if they feel that what they are dealing with is beyond any medical help. In February of 2014, the Belgian Parliament passed a bill also allowing euthanasia for terminally ill children, although any children must have parental concent. This makes Belgium the first in the world to have legalized euthanasia without an age limit.

The country has had a large increase in euthanasia cases over the past few years. In 2013, 1,807 deaths were recorded as opposed to 2012 when there were 1,432 deaths recorded. More than half of the patients were over the age of 70, but recently younger patients have been requesting this procedure more frequently due to depression. Dr Marc Van Hoey, a general practitioner and president of the Right to Die Association in northern Belgium, is an open supporter of the law. Van Hoey told the Independent newspaper that he believes that sometimes this procedure is the kindest option. He stated,

I’ve seen quite a lot of persons dying in – how do you say in proper English – agony?…I never saw that when I gave someone euthanasia he or she asked for.

Although euthanasia is considered acceptable to many, there are people who are not in favor of this law at all. Carine Brochier, a project manager with the Brussels-based European Institute of Bioethics, believes that this law is leading to too many young people in Belgium dying. “Euthanasia is not the answer to all human suffering,” Brochier says. “We need to develop better palliative care for people,” something she believes Belgium is not currently doing. Opinions on euthanasia vary, but majorities have been supporting the law for the past two decades.

In contrast, in the U.S. euthanasia is legal in four states. Montana requires those seeking the procedure to be a “terminally ill, competent patient.” Oregon, Washington, and Vermont have also legalized euthanasia but require patients requesting it to be 18 years old or older and a resident of the state. The patient must also be capable of making and communicating health care decisions for himself and have been diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months.

This has been a particularly controversial debate because it’s impossible to truly analyze how someone is feeling. In a case like Laura’s, it seems to go against accepted norms to not work with her to treat her depression. Detractors from euthanasia worry that it gives the doctor too much power and romanticizes death. On the other hand, advocates argue that allowing euthanasia gives people control over their own lives. Whether or not we’ll see euthanasia become legalized in the U.S. to the same extent as Belgium any time soon is questionable, but Laura’s story certainly sparked many questions.

Taelor Bentley
Taelor Bentley
Taelor is a member of the Hampton University Class of 2017 and was a Law Street Media Fellow for the Summer of 2015. Contact Taelor at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.
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