14 DAY TRIAL // Two 45-year-old men from Antwerp, in Belgium have chosen euthanasia, faced with the possibility of going blind.
The pair were twin brothers, and had been deaf from the day they were born, Telegraph writes. They explained their decision to seek out assisted suicide because they found the mere thought of not seeing each other again debilitating.
Doctors enacted their wish at the Brussels University Hospital in Jette, on December 14 last year. A lethal injection was used during the procedure. They were in “full conscience” when they made the call, the physician in charge of the euthanasia tells reporters.
“They were very happy. It was a relief to see the end of their suffering.
“They had a cup of coffee in the hall, it went well and a rich conversation. The separation from their parents and brother was very serene and beautiful. At the last there was a little wave of their hands and then they were gone,” doctor David Dufour describes.
The incident brings about debates about Belgian law, and its provisions about when euthanasia should be allowed. None of the brothers was terminally ill in this case, raising questions about whether or not everyone has the right to demand euthanasia.
The ruling Socialist party in Belgium is putting forward an amendment to the current law, now asking for children and people suffering from Alzheimer's to be able to choose to put an end to their suffering. Currently, only adults over 18 can seek the lethal injection.
The law will be “extended to minors if they are capable of discernment or affected by an incurable illness or suffering that we cannot alleviate.
“The idea is to update the law to take better account of dramatic situations and extremely harrowing cases we must find a response to,” Thierry Giet has explained.