Help Any Belgians here?

[Untoten_]

The reason I'm asking this is because I am half Belgian, I was doing stuff, reading up on who has laws regarding euthanasia, until it actually fucking hit me, while reading out the fact Belgium will kill you if you provide proof of mental illness and willingness to die.

What hit me was "huh, my father is Belgian" then I looked up some stuff based around citizenship, found out I could easily get it.

My question to Belgians (or people that have better internet detective skills than me) is how does it work? Before I do move forward with the citizenship, I can't find much info about it at all, except a bunch of French, German, Dutch even all the way to Lithuania going to Belgium for that stuff and that it apparently takes less than a week.

My point is merely, why waste hours getting mad over my inability to find SN, when I can literally go visit some family I haven't seen in years, spend time away from home then go get legally euthanised?

And yes I've thought about the legal implications, nobody would be helping me (which isn't allowed by UK law because they'd get a manslaughter charge), it would just be me under the guise of visiting family.

 

[OnMyLast Legs]

I think you'd have to live there permanently and it would be a long approval process where you'd have to try to get better.

 

[princexhhn]

Hi I'm not Belgian but I am nosy so, I found this

"The decision to end someone's life on request is fixed within the patient-doctor relationship, and societal control has been established within a review procedure after death. A doctor can only proceed when they know the patient well enough to be able to assess whether their request for euthanasia is voluntary and well-considered, whether the patient's medical situation is without prospect of improvement, and whether the individual's suffering is unbearable. The ability to refuse a request for euthanasia guarantees a doctor's freedom of conscience in both countries."

"any patient who requests euthanasia has to be well informed about their situation— namely, their diagnosis, outlook, and treatment options. Before the attending doctor can comply with a request for euthanasia, they must first consult a colleague who is not connected with them or with their patient's treatment. Unlike in the Netherlands, in Belgium a second doctor must be consulted if the patient is unlikely to die naturally within a short period—ie, a procedure exists for non-terminally ill patients."

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(03)14520-5/fulltext

 

[Untoten_]

I think you'd have to live there permanently and it would be a long approval process where you'd have to try to get better.

No people from other places in the EU have had it done.

Hi I'm not Belgian but I am nosy so, I found this

"The decision to end someone's life on request is fixed within the patient-doctor relationship, and societal control has been established within a review procedure after death. A doctor can only proceed when they know the patient well enough to be able to assess whether their request for euthanasia is voluntary and well-considered, whether the patient's medical situation is without prospect of improvement, and whether the individual's suffering is unbearable. The ability to refuse a request for euthanasia guarantees a doctor's freedom of conscience in both countries."

"any patient who requests euthanasia has to be well informed about their situation— namely, their diagnosis, outlook, and treatment options. Before the attending doctor can comply with a request for euthanasia, they must first consult a colleague who is not connected with them or with their patient's treatment. Unlike in the Netherlands, in Belgium a second doctor must be consulted if the patient is unlikely to die naturally within a short period—ie, a procedure exists for non-terminally ill patients."

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(03)14520-5/fulltext

I've found this previously actually. Especially talking about being well informed or about building a rapport.

But then people from other places (obviously EU) go there and then get it done.

 

[Tommen Baratheon]

while reading out the fact Belgium will kill you if you provide proof of mental illness and willingness to die.

That's simply not true. There has to be 'ondraaglijk lijden' (unbearable suffering). This can be physical (terminal cancer for instance) or mental (ondraaglijk psychisch lijden). I believe the condition also has to be incurable.

Bipolar or schizophrenia are considered incurable, but they won't investigate 'willingness to die'. Belgium does not support suicide. Belgium is not Switzerland. We support euthanasia.

So they research if unbearable mental suffering is the case. This will be done by 3 medical doctors, one of them being a psychiatrist. You will need to have 'an ongoing relationship' with this psychiatrist. This is why non Belgians will not be approved in case of unbearable mental suffering. Foreigners can apply for unbearable physical suffering (which usually includes mental), but not for mental only.

So you need to be Belgian and live here long enough to be in therapy with a psychiatrist. These are hard to find here, certainly one that will approve you for euthanasia. (And those other 2 doctors need to approve as well.) The list is long and I've read some cases take over 2 years.

(I'm Flemish, Belgian.)

 

[anxiousdweller]

Im from the Netherlands and what i heard her if you suffer from mental health issues its gonna be extreme hard i think like only 2-5% of the cases get approved

 

[Tommen Baratheon]

Im from the Netherlands and what i heard her if you suffer from mental health issues its gonna be extreme hard i think like only 2-5% of the cases get approved

That seems to be on the low side. I doubt there are public figures about this.

This is from an official report: in 2024 only 1,4% of all euthanasia cases in Belgium were linked to a psychiatric disorder. But this doesn't say anything about how many people applied. In some cases people who apply ctb before a decision is made.