Belgium is one of the few countries where the liberal agenda has been pushed so far that, apart from abortion and gay marriage, euthanasia is also allowed by law. However, “market failure” is now jeopardizing the right of Belgians to die. The standard euthanasia procedure in Belgium (as in the Netherlands) is through injection with an overdose of the drug Pentothal. Brussels’ leading euthanasiast, Prof Wim Distelmans, complained in the Belgian press today that the supply of the drug to Belgium has all but stopped since Abbott Laboratories, the American pharmaceutical company that used to produce Pentothal, transferred the production to its spin-off Hospira in 2004.

The cause, apparently, is the packaging of the drug. So far Pentothal was sold in packets of ten ampullas, while one or two ampullas suffice to kill. Hospira has decided to start selling packets of only one ampulla in Belgium, but while the old packets have been sold out the new are not yet available. Hospira refused to comment but the reason for the change in packaging may be that the Belgian pro-euthanasia authorities are no longer willing to reimburse Pentothal unless it is sold in single doses.

“We have been without Pentothal for weeks now,” Distelmans complains, adding that there is no alternative to the drug. “The intention of  euthanasia is to bring the patient into an in an irreversible coma in an elegant and reliable manner. Pentothal is the only drug which can do this.”

Belgian pharmacies confirm that there is a shortage of Pentothal. According to the leftist newspaper De Morgen the shortage may last for three months or more, depriving people of their right “to die in dignity,” unless Pentothal is bought abroad.

Belgian doctors register 30 cases of euthanasia every month, though Distelmans suspects that most euthanasia deaths are not registered as such. He estimates that the actual number of people killed through euthanasia is five times as high.