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The procedure began in 2018, when the uterus of a brain-dead donor was transplanted into a woman suffering from Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome. This syndrome is characterised by the total or partial absence of a vagina and an underdeveloped or non-existent uterus. To achieve pregnancy in these conditions, embryos were conceived by in vitro fertilisation prior to the transplant and subsequently re-implanted once doctors had established that the transplanted uterus had not been...

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Euthanasia and assisted suicide

Hearings are continuing in the Federal Parliament on the proposed law to extend euthanasia to people who have become incapable of expressing their wishes, on the basis of an advance declaration. On Wednesday 22 January, two experts from the Netherlands presented the implications of such an extension, based on the Dutch experience. Their informed and critical experience provided food for thought about the social and ethical implications of extending euthanasia to patients who are no longer...

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In its latest report on palliative care in Belgium, published on 16 January 2025, the KCE recommends setting up a palliative middle care service to complement existing provision. This intermediate care would be situated between routine and non-urgent care on the one hand, and the hospital on the other, particularly for patients who do not require care in a hospital or palliative care unit and who cannot be cared for at home or in a nursing home. The KCE stresses the importance of diversifying...

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Euthanasia and assisted suicide

An Open Vld bill, co-signed by the PS, was tabled in the House last September. It aims to ‘extend the advance declaration of euthanasia to people who have become incapable of expressing their wishes’. Experts are currently being heard to consider the medical, social and ethical implications of such an extension. What is the medical definition of unconsciousness and incapacity, and how do we know if the situation is irreversible? The experts interviewed and the Members of Parliament are faced w...

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Euthanasia and assisted suicide

The 10th ‘Sympadot’ symposium, organised on 21 November by the Transplantation Department of Brussels University Hospital (Erasme), focused on organ donation and transplantation. Among the topics discussed was the deliberately provocative question: ‘Euthanasia, a pathway to the futur? According to the speakers, the aim is to promote an ‘end-of-life project’ that would include organ donation. Is this an attempt to promote an altruistic gesture to divert...

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After the birth of two daughters conceived through artificial reproduction with a gamete donor, a woman asked the fertilization center for access to the donor's identifying and non-identifying information, without any medical reason. When UZ Brussel refused, the mother and one of her daughters turned to the Brussels Court of First Instance. The 2007 law “relating to medically assisted procreation and the destination of supernumerary embryos and gametes” stipulates that a...

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Every year in Belgium, tens of thousands of people and their families could benefit from such care, according to the Palliative Care Indicators Tool (PICT). This tool identifies patients in need of palliative care, based on criteria of frailty, incurability and severity of illness. Palliative care is not reserved solely for patients with a vital prognosis of less than 3 months, or for cancer sufferers. On the contrary, anyone suffering from a serious, progressive illness with no possible cure...

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This Shakespearean tragedy has been revisited by Peruvian playwright Chela De Ferrari and her “Teatro La Plaza” company, made up of eight actors, all of whom have Down's syndrome. They tell us their dreams, their hopes, their struggles to be considered as people, autonomous, capable of love, as well as their claim to be different. They share their suffering and their desire to be understood. They believe that “theater is perhaps the last resort” because it...

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The fact that the negative perception of people with disabilities leads to a high rate of abortions due to Down's syndrome is in practice linked to the widespread use of the NIP-test as a screening method in Belgium. This non-invasive blood test is routinely offered to pregnant women, and is fully reimbursed by the Belgian state. Although healthcare providers are supposed to leave the choice to couples faced with the news of a disability, more than 95% of pregnancies are nevertheless...

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In terms of bioethics, it remains to be seen whether the CRPD will examine the social and ethical implications of widespread prenatal screening for Down's syndrome in Belgium, using the NIP-test. This non-invasive blood test is routinely offered to pregnant women, and is fully reimbursed by the Belgian state. There is no official campaign to encourage women and couples to keep the child or, conversely, to have an abortion if a trisomy is detected (particularly for Down’s syndrome,...

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