Foreword
Professor Eugene Wesley Ely and Professor Margaret Somerville
Preface
Jacques Ricot
1. The Slippery Slope Syndrome
Eric Vermeer
Decriminalization – Ignorance – Trivialization - Perverted sense of duty – Suffering and silence – Economic context – Psychiatric context – After euthanasia - Euthanasia of minors – Euthanasia of remorse
2. The Doctor Turned into an Instrument
Dr Catherine Dopchie
The therapeutic alliance
3. When Conscience Wavers. Some Reflections on the Normalization of Euthanasia in Belgium
Professor Willem Lemmens
The embarrassment of the law – Euthanasia: medical act or transgression? - Euthanasia as transgression – Between law and conscience – Conclusion
4. Euthanasia for Unbearable Psychological Suffering
Dr An Haekens
What does the law say? – Lack of prospect of improvement - Incurable disorder – Persistent and unbearable psychologic suffering – What is empathy? – Decision-making capacity – Conclusion
5. People Facing the Question of Euthanasia: Patients, Family and Friends, Health-care Workers
Dr. Rivka Karplus
Personal suffering - Physical suffering - Psychological suffering - Emotional and relational suffering - Existential and spiritual suffering – How can one respond to a request of euthanasia? – Reaction of family and friends – How can the medical staff act or react?
6. Surrendering to vs. Inducing Death. Artificial Feeding as Paradigm
Dr Marie Frings
Framework of this reflective study – Why use feeding tubes? – First approach of the ethical question – Distinguishing between ordinary and extraordinary - Three levels of ethical judgment – Conclusion
7. The Meaning of Suffering or the Meaning of Life Despite Suffering
Professor Dr Benoit Beuselinck
Viktor Frankl: the question of meaning at the heart of medicine – How can we apply Viktor Frankl theories to helping patients? – What happens in a country where euthanasia has been decriminalised?
8. Resisting
Dr Julie Blanchard
The request for euthanasia - Family pressure - Explaining euthanasia – The trap of ‘integrated palliative care' - Sedation: misunderstanding and confusion – Contradiction and ambiguity
9. Behind the Scenes of Euthanasia
François Trufin
Distress of the healthcare worker - Euthanasia: a ‘de-humanising’ act - When conscience competes against law and bureaucracy - Euthanasia, a stage in accepting one’s illness - Euthanasia as a wake-up call from indifference – When trust meets professional integrity
Postface
Professor Timothy Devos
Lexicon
The following authors have contributed to the book, each with one chapter:
• Eric Vermeer was a practicing nurse for more than 20 years in oncology and palliative care. A teacher and psychotherapist for the last 10 years, he works with nursing students in the services of palliative care and psychiatry. An ethicist by training, he is part of an ethics committee in a neuropsychiatric hospital in Namur, Belgium.
• Dr Catherine Dopchie is a medical oncologist specialized in palliative care. Author of numerous articles and conferences.
• Professor Willem Lemmens is a professor of ethics and modern philosophy. He is also the president of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.
• Dr An Haekens is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. She is the Chief Medical Officer of Alexianen, a psychiatric clinic in Tienen, Belgium.
• Dr Rivka Karplus specialized in internal medicine, infectious diseases and haematology. Currently she works as a general practitioner and consultant in infectious diseases outside the hospital. Her interest in ethical issues was born out of the concrete reality of her work and multicultural encounters.
• Dr Marie Frings is a general practitioner specializing in palliative care and clinical ethics and lives in France.
• Professor Dr Benoit Beuselinck is a medical oncologist, appointed since 2010 at the Leuven University Hospitals. His research focuses on kidney carcinomas and anti-angiogenic treatments. In 2015 he was appointed professor of medicine at KU Leuven and he has a special interest in palliative care.
• Dr Julie Blanchard was trained in France. She worked there in a mobile team of palliative care as well as in a palliative care unit. In Belgium since 2015 as a general practitioner, she works in a hospital mobile palliative team today in Namur, Belgium.
• François Trufin is a nurse and head of a palliative care unit. He is secretary of the Palliative Care Platform of the German-speaking community in Belgium.
