August 28, 2016

Controversial Belgian Psychiatrist at Exit Conference

Controversial Belgian Psychiatrist, Dr Lieve Thienpont, was one of three international keynote speakers at Exit’s 20th anniversary conference at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne on 22 September.

A graduate of the University of Ghent, since 2011 Dr Thienpont has been a founding member of the Life Ending Information Forum at the Free University of Brussel.

Dr Thienpont has focused her work on researching and publishing in the area of euthanasia decisions for those with psychic (existential) suffering.

Dr Thienpont came to prominence in the English speaking world after her 2015 retrospective and descriptive study of 100 euthanasia requests by the mentally ill as performed under Belgium’s euthanasia law.

This controversial paper was recently published in the British Medical Journal.

In 2015, Dr Thienpont was the leading psychiatrist in the assessment of 24 year old ‘Emily’. Emily was approved for euthanasia in Belgium in late 2015.

The Economist-produced film, 24 & ready to Die, is available for viewing on Youtube.

Her new book Libera Me was published in Dutch in 2015 and in English and French in 2016.

At the Melbourne Conference, Dr Thienpont examined how the non-terminally ill elderly, including those who are tired of life, are accommodated under Belgium’s euthanasia laws