Never mind the makeup wait til you read this

[Liudmilla]

Belgium considers euthanasia for children
Wed September 08, 2004 10:08 AM ET

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian lawmakers belonging to Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's ruling Flemish Liberal party have introduced a bill seeking to expand the country's controversial euthanasia legislation to include minors.
Senators Jeannine Leduc and Paul Wille said in the bill that terminally ill children and teenagers had as much right to choose when they wanted to die as anyone else.

"Their suffering is as great (and) the situation they face is as intolerable and inhumane," the senators' bill read on Wednesday.

A controversial law decriminalising euthanasia came into force in Belgium in September 2002.

Patients wishing to end their lives must be conscious when the application is made and repeat their request for euthanasia. Their doctor must fill in a form and consult another physician before making a final decision.

Wille and Leduc now also want to include "assisted suicide" in the current legislation as they feel patients often want to end their lives themselves.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/printerFriendl ... yID=579558

[sue57]

This reminds me that we pray for our families, out friends, if God forbid, we know somene in Iraq, we pray for their safety. Now, we're praying for the innocent victims of the Russian tragedy. I know I forget to pray that horrors like this end, with the help of God.

I don't at all mean this in a sarcastic way, but does anyone know: If a child has severe pain from an illness (like cancer), doesn't morphine weaken the heart? I mean how long can a child suffer, their bodies are small, don't medications affect them more? Is it common for a child to linger with an illness?

How can the Dutch accept such madness as this?

[Justin2]

How can the Dutch accept such madness as this?

Have you seen their soccer uniforms?!

Okay, really, though, think about it. It's the Netherlands. Hash bars, legalized prostitution, the age of consent is 14, I think. They sent a floating abortion barge to Portugal. Their at the forefront of ultra-liberalism.

[Sean]

I don't at all mean this in a sarcastic way, but does anyone know: If a child has severe pain from an illness (like cancer), doesn't morphine weaken the heart?

I don't know about children with cancer, but my late mother-in-law died of cancer. I remember the Dr. telling us in layman's terms that cancer "eats morphine." Hence, terminal cancer patients can be prescribed doses of morphine that would be lethal to a healthy person.

--Sean