Euthanasia up 50 per cent in two years

Deaths by euthanasia rose by 55 per cent in Belgium in 2012-13 compared to the previous two-year reporting period, the federal commission monitoring compliance with the law said, writes Tom Heneghan.

There were 3,239 cases in that period, an average of 4.4 per day, compared to 2,086, or 2.9 per day, in 2010-11. Almost three-quarters of all cases concerned terminal cancer patients.

Eighty per cent of all cases were performed in Flanders, which is culturally and linguistically linked to the Netherlands and, like Belgium, legalised euthanasia in 2002. Only 20 per cent of the cases were in French-speaking Wallonia. Euthanasia is banned in neighbouring France, but the Government plans to legalise it.

The commission attributed the rise in cases to an increasing public acceptance of euthanasia. No study has yet been conducted into why the Flemish should have accepted it so disproportionately.