The chairman of the Christian Mutualities (CM), Luc Van Gorp, advocates radical solutions for the aging population in Het Nieuwsblad and the Gazet van Antwerpen. Anyone who is tired of life should be given the opportunity to end their life.
By 2050, the number of people over 80 will double from approximately 640,000 today to 1.2 million. This also increases the financial pressure on healthcare, medication and residential care centers. Van Gorp believes that the aging population cannot simply be tackled with more money and advocates “a radically different approach”. “Doctors and other health professionals are now doing their utmost to help everyone live longer, but for what purpose? Living longer is not a goal in itself, is it? The first and foremost question should be: how long can I live a quality life” , it sounds.
“What about the category of elderly people who receive maximum care, but who still do not have the quality of life they desire? That question is asked far too little.”
“Giving life back”
He points out that there is already a very strict and legally established regulation for euthanasia. “That also works well for those who suffer unbearably. But there should also be a gentler form, for people who feel that their life is complete.” He also refers to the well-known radio voice Lutgart Simoens who died four years ago. She said: ‘It’s no longer necessary for me.’ And she is far from the only one. Many elderly people are tired of life.”
He thinks suicide is too negative a term. “I would rather call it: giving life back. I know it is sensitive, but we really have to dare to have that debate. (…) Throughout history we have put death in a separate box. That is something for the black uniforms, versus the white uniforms that take care of the living. But those two worlds are intertwined, death is a part of life.”
Van Gorp also considers the costs involved at the end of life to be important, in relation to what it yields: “Some cancer patients, for example, are still given heavy, expensive medication at the end of their lives to prolong their lives by a few days, sometimes even literally. several hours. But is that really what the patients want at that moment?
Van Gorp states that as many resources as possible should go to health and healthcare, provided it offers a better quality of life. “But no matter how much you ultimately invest, it will not be enough. There are simply not enough healthcare workers to get the job done.” So the question arises whether we should provide more infrastructure, for example by building additional WZCs: “Do we really need all those extra residential care centers? Merely adding rooms without doing anything about the staff shortage is not a sustainable model. I miss in elderly care the why question. Why do we do things the way we do them now? There is often no answer to this.”
Smelly meat
Doctors and hospitals are also given the ball: “I sometimes compare aging people to a mountain of meat. That mountain will first end up in healthcare. Doctors and hospitals start working on this and make good money from it,” says Luc Van Gorp. “But as soon as that meat starts to smell a bit, they pass it on to elderly care. But the aging population is not only the responsibility of the people who work in elderly care.”
Luc Van Gorp wants to get the debate going with his interview. It has already led to various reactions. For example, CD&V chairman Sammy Mahdi is not pleased with CM chairman Luc Van Gorp’s proposal that he fits into a concept of a ‘throwaway society’, while the elderly association OKRA nevertheless makes a very nuanced opening to ‘assisted dying’. On the other hand, the organization finds the linking of the discussion about completed life and that about the costs of aging inappropriate.
‘Gwendolyn Rutten (Open VLD) is almost in line with Van Gorp and refers to an earlier, similar plea from her side. Van Gorp’s economic approach also raises questions among liberals.
Wim Distelmans, chairman of the euthanasia committee, said that we need to have a debate, but ‘that a lot is certainly already possible within the current legislation’.
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