For this 58-year-old general practitioner, who performs euthanasia at home, "no one can oppose the patient's wishes" if the conditions of the law are respected.

The request must be "voluntary, thoughtful, repeated", "without external pressure", according to the text promulgated on May 28, 2002 which decriminalized euthanasia, two months after the Netherlands, and which is no longer debated.

A demonstration by opponents in Brussels at the end of April brought together only 350 people.

The patient must suffer from an incurable pathology and report "constant and unbearable physical or psychological suffering which cannot be appeased".

In 2021, 2,700 euthanasias were declared in Belgium (2.4% of the total number of deaths), mostly for patients aged 60 to 89 and in 84% of cases death was expected "shortly", according to the Federal Control Commission.

Forty-nine concerned non-residents, including 40 French.

More than half (54%) took place at home.

"The euthanasia gesture is never easy but it is the culmination of a whole journey that we make with the patient, his family, it is a way of closing something in relief", says the doctor we met. to his practice in Uccle, a municipality in Brussels.

"Humanly rich"

This very special moment between the patient and his family is also special for the doctor.

"It's extremely rich humanly. We perceive all these emotions, they make us grow, they make us move forward, we become a little better, finally I hope", confides in a pensive smile Marc Decroly.

"Beyond three euthanasias per month, it becomes hard," he adds, saying he is "marked" by all those he has affected, always after a second opinion from a colleague.

Also an emergency doctor at the hospital, he sees no contradiction between saving lives and ending them.

"On the contrary, it's part of a whole. I think that the person we are going to euthanize is not more or less important than the one we are going to save. We are simply in different situations", explains the doctor , a mixture of calm and solidity.

For this great-grandson of the pedagogue Ovide Decroly, Belgian law is "a very good law", which will not leave the patient alone after a first refusal.

Listen and trust

"If a doctor says no, the process does not stop, it can be transposed to other people who can see the situation differently," he explains.

Marc Decroly himself has already refused to take action and cites the example of a grandfather in the terminal stage of cancer whose request came from the family.

"He wasn't in pain. He told me about his granddaughter who was coming to see him and about the flowers in the garden. He didn't want to die. He died naturally."

The most important thing is to "listen to your patient".

When he arrives at home to perform euthanasia, always at the end of the afternoon or the beginning of the evening, he speaks again with the patient about his decision.

"If we need two hours to discuss, it will take two hours. I repeat it every time, if it's not the right day, it's up to you. It's not because you made me move that I must absolutely practice euthanasia".

"When the patient arrives at the doctor, he entrusts his life to us. There, he wants this transition from life to death to go well for him and for those around him".

The act takes place in two stages after the installation of the infusion: first the sleep products, then the lethal substances.

"You don't have to die in your bed, you can die in your best chair, where you want to die".

And then there's the aftermath: talking with loved ones, calling the funeral directors.

"There are many things that are expressed. For me, this allows me to thank the family for the trust they have shown in me".

© 2022 AFP