"Belgian society has accepted the idea that, when faced with death, no one has the right to impose their truth on another."

I n the French debate on end-of-life, there's a lot of talk about Belgium. Too often, without having actually set foot there. The Belgian model of assisted dying is, for some, proof of an inevitable slippery slope; for others, it's the model to follow. To move beyond fantasies and simplifications, I wanted to understand what's actually happening in a country that has authorized euthanasia for two decades.

I went there with my volunteer perspective, working with seriously ill people, and I traveled the roads of Wallonia, from hospitals to care facilities. I met caregivers, patients, families, and citizens. I saw a society that, without denying the ethical complexity of the issue, had found a way forward. A model that could be improved, but is livable, peaceful. And above all, humane.

In France, the debate is caught in a conflict of clashing authorities and ideological thinking disconnected from the experiences of those with illnesses. Belgium is no exception to philosophical and religious antagonisms. But they are experienced with respect, without hindering patients' path to the end-of-life solution they desire.

In Namur, I met people from bourgeois Catholic backgrounds, who one might have thought were rather conservative, who didn't look away when talking about euthanasia. They even have a hard time understanding the French semantic tension surrounding the word: its historical resonances linked to the ^Third Reich, put forward to underpin the idea of ​​murdering marginalized or vulnerable people, are surprisingly exotic to them.

Euthanasia is a common word there, a way of dying that has become familiar as people experience it in their immediate and distant circles. The pragmatic consensus that reigns there even leads some priests to perform a final farewell ritual for those about to receive their final treatment.

In the background, we hear that the legalization of euthanasia has weakened palliative care in Belgium. I have observed the opposite. Since the 2002 law, palliative care consultation platforms have existed in each region, raising awareness about anticipating the end of life, streamlining patient pathways, supporting caregivers, and training caregivers. In Walloon Brabant, a personalized and anticipated care project (PSPA) was designed to add a human dimension to official forms, inviting everyone to reflect on what makes sense for them. Volunteers visit "rest homes" to support these reflections.

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