Belgian murderer Van Den Bleeken wins ‘right to die’:
A Belgian man serving a life sentence for rape and murder will be allowed to have doctors end his life, after a landmark ruling.
Unable to control his violent sexual urges, Frank Van Den Bleeken, who is 50, argued he would never be freed.
The decision follows a three-year legal battle by the prisoner, who was convicted in the 1980s.
The ruling is the first involving a prisoner since the assisted dying law was introduced in Belgium 12 years ago.
Van Den Bleeken will soon be transferred to a hospital where the medical procedure will take place, his lawyers told reporters.
“But I cannot say when or where that will happen,” Jos Vander Velpen added.
Shocked? Not me. In one of my more whimsical moments, I drafted and sent out a phony press release regarding a similar scenario, but set in the US and with a slightly more convoluted set of circumstances.:
Los Angeles – April 1, 1998
Affiliated PressAt a press conference today, the American Civil Liberties Union Announced
it would be supporting the request of a death row prisoner to obtain assisted
suicide. Sid Nasty, who has been on death row for 5 years awaiting the outcome
of appeals in his death sentence in the slaying of 5 girl scouts, has applied
for assistance in committing suicide.
Nasty, in an appeal filed yesterday, contends that his present quality of
life is unacceptable and seeks to voluntarily end his “suffering” and
“meaningless existence”. Nasty says that even if his death sentence is
commuted, the best he can hope for is a life sentence with no hope for parole.
Nasty, in a taped presentation, explained: “Hell, I figure the ACLU has
helped cripples in nursing homes to escape being locked up with no hope of
parole. Why should they get the right to die and I don’t? The food may be a
little better in here than in a nursing home, but aside from that, it’s pretty
much the same”.
This action of the ACLU stands in stark contrast to its actions in the case
of Gary Gilmore, who asked that all appeals on his behalf be withdrawn so he
could be executed by a firing squad. The ACLU argued that Gilmore was
depressed by the circumstances of his incarceration and could not be making an
informed choice in the matter. ACLU spokesperson Sol Phistry explained that
the ACLU was firm in opposing the death penalty then and now.
”Nasty’s appeals for a commutation of sentence will stay in place. Gillmore
was asking for the state to execute him. Nasty is asking the state to allow
him to release himself from an untenable existence. He will be administering
the lethal injection to himself, not some flunkie hired by the prison. This is
about choice.
“Jack Kevorkian, a pioneer in the right to die, said it best; to paraphrase
him: “The voluntary self-elimination of murderers, rapists and other felons,
taken collectively can only serve to enhance the public health and welfare.”(emphasis added.)
On one of the email lists this got posted to at the time, an ACLU board member (don’t remember if it was a state or the national board) commented that the author had an “overactive imagination.” Who knew that I was actually exhibiting – totally unconsciously – clairvoyance, my least known superpower.
You’re sooooo wrong about this being the first ….its the first ‘official’ one in Belgium..those in this article only came to light by accident..http://www.mercatornet.com/careful/view/11252 – replete with ‘organ harvesting’..apparently the authorities didnt tell anyone because …duh…’these prisoners have data protection act rights, and we really care about those!
Also have ‘unofficial death penalties’ in the UK prison service…our jails are full of elderly lifers they dont want to feed anymore, so its being fronted by a ‘palliative care’ charity, using the terminal sedation protocol they call the ‘liverpool care pathway’. Our Mental Capacity Act is supposed to ensure you give informed consent for all treatment, but as Norfolk Jail is in the constituency of our freakish ‘care minister’ norman lamb, they get a rap on the knuckles and no one is charged.http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/lessons_learnt_after_death_of_elderly_inmate_at_norwich_prison_1_2314684
Norman’s a LibDem who is a hypocrite…as Care Minister he signed off the National Health Service Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2012…then came out in favour of Lord Joel Joffe/Lord Falconer’s ‘Assisted Dying ‘ bill (which they say is only for the terminally ill – ho ho ho ) .
And you’re leaping beyond the content and intent here. The story you link to makes it clear that the reasons for previous are unknown and may have been for health reasons – an important story, but not the same as someone who wants euthanasia – at least in part – because he feels death is preferable to another couple decades of confinement. Even in 1998, it looked feasible to me that the logic used by activists could end up exactly here – no death penalty, but prisoners lining up for euthanasia.
BTW, I usually just delete messages that start with something along the lines of “you’re soooo wrong.” You might try for different openings in the future.
BTW: G4S provide ‘end of life’ care in the community for the NHS patients in Norfolk too…y’now all the elderly who fought in WW2 and built the NHS up from scratch with their taxes….its a ‘payment by outcome ‘ contract too, so they tend not to last very long once they’re diagnosed as ‘within hours or days of dying’ and the syringe drivers of diamorphine, cyclizine and midazolam are primed and started.
OK. I don’t understand why any state or province could make such a law. People who are in death row are there for a reason and should never have the opportunity to euthanize themselves in order to end what has legally given them: Death Row means exactly that. I don;t care if you are worried that you can’t face the years of imprisonment. Get over it.
Who cares what THEY think about quality of life liivng with a disability? Who are they? It’s not their life. It’s not even something they’ve experienced. Not to mention that it’s similar to the habit of their saying how long someone has to live, which even they admit they’re notoriously bad at estimating, and people listening to them about it. It’s like signing a liivng will, believing that one can know in advance about something that hasn’t even happened yet, that one has never experienced, how it would be, etc.