Care home sued in euthanasia test case

A Catholic nursing home in Belgium may become a test case for a further extension of the country’s liberal euthanasia law in a lawsuit due to be decided in April.

The St Augustine home in Diest, a town 60km east of Brussels, has been sued by relatives of a 74-year-old woman with terminal cancer who had official permission for euthanasia but was refused permission to have it performed on the premises.

Her family said the home had no right to invoke a conscience clause in the 2002 law allowing voluntary death, arguing it was limited to doctors and staff who declined to take part in the practice. But her doctor was willing to go through with it.

Archbishop Jozef De Kesel of Mechelen-Brussels, the new primate of Belgium, caused a stir last month by clearly stating the Church had such a right in its institutions. Critics disagreed and said religious institutions must comply with the law because they receive state subsidies.

The Diest case, which dates back to 2011, became known nationally during that debate. Professor Wim Distelmans, a leading “right to die” activist and head of the federal euthanasia commission, said the case could set an important precedent if the court in Leuven rules the nursing home did not have the right to refuse euthanasia.

The woman was taken to her own home, where her doctor ended her life. The family’s suit, the first to challenge a religious institution’s right to refuse, claimed the woman suffered unnecessary anguish and pain because of the delay.