Review boards are the mechanism that, on a one- or two-day basis, deal with many issues in the health care field today. That is absolutely established, and it does not result in judicial review morning, noon, and night, sir.
It is a way of flexibly responding to the need for consistency and guidance that comes from the issuance of reasons, and the reasons are what are necessary for true monitoring. The reasons are what do not exist in Belgium and would not exist under the model being proposed, because there are no reasons after the death that are provided beyond the bare bones of ticking the boxes for “grievous”, “irremediable”, and “intolerable”. That is the problem, I would put to you, that requires that a review board be there.
Plus, it puts physicians in the position where they are not being asked to be the judge when most physicians are saying they will not do it, that it's inappropriate and it's unethical. They say they want to provide and will provide information about their patients, the patients they know, whose vulnerabilities they know, whose family situations they know, and for whom potentially they are aware of abuse situations that could contribute to a decision of death. They say, “We do not want a small group of physicians travelling the country and getting paid to administer a lethal dose.” They want the person's doctor involved in providing the information that is relevant to the decision.