I thought that the side that wanted to kill "useless eaters" lost that war.

Another one for the Eberstadt files.

Catholic Nursing Home Successfully Sued for Refusing Euthanasia

Chalk up another success for secularist humanists in Belgium.

Culture of Death...

...or it's a pity that the Nazis won that war that happened 75 years ago.

//We have here a peculiar inversion of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. In the novel, a self-diagnosis of insanity demonstrated sanity; in Van Den Bleeken’s case, though he was declared insane and therefore not responsible for his actions, his wish to kill himself is somehow seen as sensible and reasoned. This is despite the fact that he himself argues that he is too mentally ill ever to be freed from prison. Carine Brochier, a project manager with the Brussels-based European Institute of Bioethics, is surely right to say that if the original sentence was correct, Van Den Bleeken should not be allowed to die but should instead receive proper treatment.

Of course, some might think ‘good riddance’. It is very difficult to sympathise with Van Den Bleeken’s existential angst or his whining about his ‘inhumane’ treatment. He is a prisoner because he committed horrific crimes. His feelings were not pre-eminent when he was tried and sentenced; nor should they be now. The sisters of one of Van Den Bleeken’s victims, a woman he raped and killed while being temporarily out of prison in 1989, seemed appalled by the decision. ‘Let him rot in his cell’, the sisters told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. What does it say about the Belgian justice system when prisoners may singlehandedly overturn the will of parliament, which has decided that particular sentences fit particular crimes?

The motivation behind supporting Van Den Bleeken is ostensibly compassion, but the outcome of Belgium’s liberal experiment is death on demand – for anyone, and for any reason. Even if you’re clinically insane! Because once you admit that death is an appropriate treatment for some, how can you deny it to others? Jaqueline Herremans, president of Belgium’s right-to-die association and government-appointed member of Belgium’s euthanasia commission, said of Van Den Bleeken’s request: ‘Regardless, he’s a human being; a human being who has the right to demand euthanasia.’  So slippery is the slope, it seems, that euthanasia has become a right to be extended to all human beings.//

Interesting that the libertarians at Spiked are on the side of restraining the choice of suicide.

Robert Hugh Benson call your office.

In "Lord of the World," Benson imagined a future where the first responders to an accident would go through the victims and euthanize the badly injured victims. (Benson also imagined that the Anti-Christ would be a first term mid-Western Senator with great charisma but the content of his speeches no one could remember.Eerie, no?)

This just in from the Continent:

Involuntary euthanasia is acceptable medical treatment, according to a recent official statement by the Belgian Society of Intensive Care Medicine. Although voluntary euthanasia is legal is Belgium under some circumstances, involuntary euthanasia is basically illegal//

Good thing we liberated Belgium from the Nazis.

Here is my review of Lord of the World.

Welcome to Civilization 2.0.

Here's an interesting angle on that disappointed Belgian transexual murdered by euthanasia. His/her example is inspiring other disappointed transexuals to follow suit:

//In 2009 Nancy received hormone therapy and last year had reassignment surgery. But Nancy, now Nathan, was horrified by the result. "I was ready to celebrate my new birth," he told the newspaper. "But when I looked in the mirror, I was disgusted with myself. My new breasts did not match my expectations and my new penis had symptoms of rejection. I do not want to be... a monster. "

Nathan’s example has already prompted one of his best friends, Dora, the second person in Belgium to have a male-female sex reassignment operation, to ask for euthanasia. The 53-year-old, who held Nathan in her arms as he died, said that she was tired of being rejected.

The Verhelst case is sure to provoke debate about the increasing number of euthanasia cases in Belgium. In 2012, it recorded a new high of 1,432 cases, an increase of 25% from 2011. Parliament is even studying whether to extend "mercy killing" legislation to children.

One development which has passed under the media’s radar is the rise in the number of double euthanasia by elderly couples. The euthanasia of deaf twins last December was reported around the world, but Dr Distelmans told the media recently that there had been several cases of elderly people who wanted to die together. The practice appears to be growing more common. //

It's a good thing we saved Belgium from the Nazis!

Belgium debates murdering Children.

Which side won World War II?

Wesley Smith writes:

Euthanasia guidelines are worse than meaningless, they are pretense. They exist to give the illusion of control. But once people come fully accept the premise of euthanasia–killing as a remedy for suffering–it’s Katy bar the door. (That hasn’t happened yet in the USA. But if assisted suicide gets a firm grip here, it will.)

Latest example, Belgium is getting set to legalize euthanasia for children–since it is being done anyway despite the “guidelines.”  From the AFP story:

Belgian legislators opened a debate today on whether to amend a decade-old law on euthanasia to cover minors, being told by experts that it was already taking place in practice without any set guidelines. Currently, the law applies to those over 18 but one expert told the upper house of parliament that it was clear that euthanasia was being carried out on younger people, the Belga news agency reported. ”We all know it,” said Dominique Biarent, head of intensive care at Queen Fabiola Children’s University Hospital in Brussels. Faced with this reality, “doctors need a legal framework,” Biarent was quoted as saying by Belga. 

How about just saying no and enforcing the law? Can’t do that? Well then, let’s legalize bank robbery. 

If any media report ever again talks about “strict guidelines–which aren’t strict and are ignored anyway–I’ll scream. Well, scream more than I already do, would be more accurate. But you get the point. 

Notice this from the Business Standard source article:

A total of 1,133 instances -- mostly for terminal cancer -- were recorded in 2011, about one per cent of all deaths in the country, according to official figures.