GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: BioEdge: Belgian paralympian dies after euthanasia

domingo, 27 de octubre de 2019

BioEdge: Belgian paralympian dies after euthanasia

BioEdge: Belgian paralympian dies after euthanasia

Bioedge

Belgian paralympian dies after euthanasia

by Michael Cook | 27 Oct 2019 |

^{paralympian Marieke Vervoort / ABC News}

Belgian paralympian Marieke Vervoort died after euthanasia at the age of 40. Vervoort won gold and silver at the London 2012 Paralympics and another two medals at Rio 2016, had an incurable degenerative muscle disease.

Vervoort had been preparing for euthanasia for a long time. In 2008 she completed all the paperwork.

Despite her strength and competitive spirit, Vervoort's neurodegenerative disease caused constant pain, seizures, paralysis in her legs and left her barely able to sleep.

Asked about the fact she had signed euthanasia papers after the Rio Paralympics she told the BBC: "It gives a feeling of rest to people. I know when it's enough for me, I have those papers."

Unsurprisingly the doctor administering the euthanasia was Wim Distelmans, who is also the leading publicist for euthanasia in Belgium and the head of the government euthanasia monitoring unit. “Only her family, doctors, her psychologist and some nurses who had been treating her for a long time were there. It was very serene and peaceful," says Distelmans. She died with a glass of bubbly in her hand.

It was a moment for the media to reflect on some of the famous people who have chosen euthanasia since 2002, when it was legalised.

Mario Verstraete (2002), a long-time campaigner with MS, who died a week after the law was passed.

Hugo Claus (2008), one of Belgium’s greatest novelists, who had Alzheimers

Tuur Van Wallendael (2008), a well-known journalist and local politician, who had cancer

Christian de Duve (2013), a Nobel Prize laureate in medicine, who was ill and helpless

Wilfried Martens (2013), a prominent politician, who had cancer

Pieter Hintjens (2016), a software developer, who had cancer

Etienne Vermeersch (2019), a moral philosopher who had helped to draft the euthanasia law

Nora Tilley (2019), a well-known actress, who had ALS

Of course, this is just a handful of the 20,000 Belgians who have been euthanised, according to official statistics. The others, less well-known, include Ann G. a 44-year-old woman suffering from anorexia nervosa, who was allegedly exually abused by her psychiatrist; Marc and Eddy Verbessem, identical 45-year-old twins who were deaf and going blind; Nathan Verhelst, a 45-year-old transman, whose reassignment surgery had failed.

Michael Cook is editor of BioEdge

If you live in Texas and you're itching to write a book about something, but you're not sure what, consider our lead story today.

We're all used to the tragedy of child custory cases after divorce, but this is completely novel. Jeff Younger and Anne Georgulas, now divorced, have twin 7-year-old sons. One of them, claims Dr Georgulas (she is a paediatrician), James, is transgender and needs to start on puberty blockers soon lest he begin life as a young man. Younger is horrified. He insists that James was, is and always will be a male.

At first a jury agreed with Dr Georgulas, but an appeal has changed this. The battle, I predict, is far from over. No doubt we will see more and more cases like this.