[Right_to_die] Doctor did not perform euthanasia, court says

[World right-to-die news list (nonprofit)]

Expatica/AFP reported from Belgium on 11 Dec 09:

Charges against GP dropped in Ostend deaths

A Bruges magistrate has thrown out a case against a GP from Ostend who 
stood accused of five-fold murder. The charges related to the deaths of 
five demented patients.

The GP faced charges because he had administered morphine to these five 
patients in his care.

Shortly after the drug was administered the elderly patients died. The 
old folks' home in which they were staying then filed a complaint 
against the doctor.
A magistrate on Wednesday decided not to prosecute the GP. He ruled that 
the doctor did not intend to perform euthanasia.

The doctor's lawyer told the VRT that the magistrate concluded that the 
doctor had acted to alleviate pain.

In certain cases administering pain relief can have a life-shortening 
effect, but the doctor's only intention was to address the patients' pain.

Lawyer Thierry Vansweefelt added: "The ruling is an important one for 
the entire medical sector.They now know that they are working entirely 
within a legal framework and that there was no case of euthanasia."

He hopes that the number of complaints against doctors will now fall.