If not, strictly speaking, “law and religion”, certainly “law and morality”…

In Mortier v Belgium [2022] ECHR 764 [in French], the ECtHR was called upon to rule on whether or not Belgium’s law permitting euthanasia was in conformity with Articles 2 and 8 ECHR.

Background

The applicant was the son of GT, who had suffered from chronic depression for approximately forty years [4]. She had been cared for by a psychiatrist, Dr B, for several years and in 2011 had become a palliative care patient of Professor D. She told Professor D that she had been under psychiatric treatment since the age of 19, that she had tried all the drug treatments without success and that Dr B had told her that she had reached the end of her treatment. Professor D concluded that she was severely traumatized, that she had a severe personality and mood disorder and that she no longer believed in recovery or treatment. He agreed to become her attending physician under the law relating to euthanasia and referred him to Dr V, a psychiatrist, to act as a medical consultant within the meaning of Article 3 of the Law of 28 May 2002 relating to Euthanasia [6]. Continue reading →