Belgian law challenged after death of mum
More than 27,000 people have died by euthanasia in Belgium since it was legalised 20 years ago. In 2021 almost one in five euthanised in the country were not expected to die naturally in the immediate future. The euthanasia law is being challenged at the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Tom Mortier v Belgium. The outcome will have the potential to set a precedent for euthanasia laws across 47 European countries.
Tom’s mother Godelieva De Troyer was euthanised in 2012, aged 64. He was informed one day after her death with the explanation she had been suffering from “untreatable depression”.
The Belgian law specifies the person must be in a “medically futile condition of constant and unbearable physical or mental suffering that cannot be alleviated, resulting from a serious and incurable disorder caused by illness or accident”.
Godelieva was physically healthy and her psychiatrist of more than 20 years expressed doubts as to whether she satisfied the requirements of the Belgian euthanasia law. She was also euthanised by an oncologist with no known psychiatric qualifications.
Three other physicians consented to Godelieva’s request for euthanasia but none had previous material involvement with her care.
In 2015 doctors in Belgium granted a medically depressed woman the right to end her life. The 24-yearold, named only as Laura, had suffered from depression since she was a child.
In October 2019 Belgian Paralympian Marieke Vervoort, 40, ended her life 11 years after signing the necessary papers. She had an incurable degenerative muscle disease. She had won gold and silver at the London 2012 Paralympics.