[Magdalen] Should we support euthanasia for children

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I see not basic reason why children should be denied the relief made
available by euthanasia. Reasonable checks and balances ought to be present
in all cases, so that there is no rush to judgment, but the suffering child
who can't be helped by medical interventions ought to be a candidate for
euthanasia if it seems otherwise appropriate.

The example given was an adult, not a child, which makes me wonder about a
number of things, one of which would be what the motivation of the post
is.  We need to keep very distinct matters separate.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Thu, Jul 2, 2015 at 11:21 AM, Zephonites--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

> Folks
>
> I came across this report (DV) recently
>
> Laura is a 24-year-old in Belgium who plans to die  by euthanasia this
> summer.  She is not terminally  ill.  Rather, she explains that she has
> wanted
> to die ever since she was a  child.  "Life, that's not for me," she says.
> She has been approved  for death by lethal injection.  The chairman of
> Belgium's federal  euthanasia commission recently stated that 50 to 60
> psychiatric
> patients like  Laura are euthanized each year.
>
> Belgium legalized euthanasia in  2002.  Last year it became the first
> nation to legalize child  euthanasia.  According to The New England
> Journal of
> Medicine, Belgian  doctors also "hasten the death" of patients "without an
> explicit request."   More than 1,000 patients a year are euthanized in this
> way.  As Cambridge  professor Jack Keown explains, "If a doctor thinks
> death
> would benefit the  patient, why should the doctor deny the patient that
> benefit merely because the  patient is incapable of asking for it?"
>
> Should children be allowed to be put down - as I did my dog some years ago
> - by euthanasia?
>
> Blessings
> Martin
>