About half of the 300 deaths of infants under the age of one are the result of active life termination. This emerged from a study by Professor Veerle Provoost of the University of Ghent. Provoost examined the medical files of about 300 babies. She also interviewed the acting physicians about the exact cause of death.
In about 150 cases the baby’s life had been actively terminated. This involves stopping treatment or administering a fatal dose of opiates. In 9 percent of cases products were explicitly administered to end the child’s life. These cases were babies with no chance of survival, or, in 30 percent of these cases, little hope of having an acceptable quality of life.
In most cases (84 percent) the decision was made in consultation with the parents.
[Comment re: “These cases were babies with no chance of survival, or, in 30 percent of these cases, little hope of having an acceptable quality of life. In most cases (84 percent) the decision was made in consultation with the parents.” Are they saying according to their expertise that 70% had no chance of survival? And by their standards another 30% had unacceptable quality of life. Then another astounding 16% were killed without consulting the parents, and I am assuming many of those parents were pressured into ending their child’s life. I guess active termination sounds better to them, than killing – They have to sanitize medical murder – I’ll just bet many of those infants had Down, or Spina Bifida but they aren’t saying. This is really tragic news and I am very disturbed by this news. Cheryl, CHN]
[12Apr07, http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=24&story_id=38607, Brussels, Compassionate Healthcare Network (CHN) www.chninternational.com]