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Title
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Medical confidentiality and (un)lawful end-of-life decisions: the case of the 'deacon of death'
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Author
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Abstract
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| Recently, Belgian society was shocked by the trial of a former nurse/deacon who admitted to ending the lives of approximately 20 people, and maybe more, in a hospital between 1978 and 2012. The case is generally known as the "Deacon of Death". The facts were uncovered as a result of a psychiatrist's intervention. The deacon had serious sleeping problems and consulted a psychiatrist. During these sessions, the deacon confessed several murders. The psychiatrist judged that the deacon was still a danger to society, which allowed a breach of confidentiality and notifying statement to the public prosecutor's office. This article elaborates on the principle of medical confidentiality and its exceptions in cases of emergency. It will also consider the legal consequences of ending a patient's life, without his consent. The Assize Court convicted the former deacon for violation of the victims' right of self-determination. There was no euthanasia nor a painless, gentle death. The deacon injected air into his victims, which causes a death struggle of several minutes. The former deacon was convicted to 27 years imprisonment for the murder of five people. This comment will highlight the boundaries of medical confidentiality, the legal framework of euthanasia and other end of life medical decisions at the in Belgium, and the application of these regulations to this particular case. |
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Language
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English
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Source (journal)
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Medicine and law. - Berlin
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Publication
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Berlin
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2018
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ISSN
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0723-1393
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Volume/pages
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37
:4
(2018)
, p. 717-730
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ISI
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000495895000009
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Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
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