Doctors euthanised Belgian woman Tine Nys because she had Asperger’s, a mild form of autism. Was killing a crime?
- Tine Nys, 38, had been told she had Asperger’s syndrome just two months before her request to be killed was carried out
- The killing, which horrified her family, has triggered the first criminal investigation into a euthanasia case in Belgium
Belgian officials are investigating whether doctors improperly euthanised a woman with autism, the first criminal investigation in a euthanasia case since the practice was legalised in 2002 in the European nation.
Three doctors from East Flanders are being investigated on suspicion of having “poisoned” Tine Nys in 2010. The 38-year-old had been given a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, a mild form of autism, two months before she died in an apparently legal killing that she had sought from a doctor.
Belgium is one of two countries, along with the Netherlands, where euthanasia of people for psychiatric reasons is allowed if they can prove they have “unbearable and untreatable” suffering.
Among Belgians euthanised for mental health reasons, the most common conditions are depression, personality disorder and Asperger’s.
It is a seriously dysfunctional, wounded, traumatised family with very little empathy and respect for others
Many experts – in Belgium and beyond – dispute whether autism should be considered a valid reason to be a euthanasia candidate.
Last year, Associated Press reported that after Nys’s appalled family filed a criminal complaint, alleging numerous “irregularities” in her death, her doctors tried to block the investigation.