In many jurisdictions, helping a person die by suicide is a crime.
People who support legalizing assisted suicide want the people who
assist in a voluntary suicide to be exempt from criminal prosecution for
manslaughter or similar crimes. Assisted suicide is legal in some countries, under certain circumstances, including Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Colombia, Switzerland, and parts of the United States and Australia.
In most of those countries, to qualify for legal assistance, people
who want to use the assisted-suicide model to die must meet certain
criteria, including having a terminal illness, proving they are of sound mind, voluntarily and repeatedly expressing their wish to die, and taking a specified, lethal dose of drugs themselves.
Terminology
Suicide is the act of killing oneself.
Assisted suicide includes anyone materially helping another person die by suicide, such as providing tools or equipment.
Physician-assisted suicide involves a physician (doctor)
"knowingly and intentionally providing a person with the knowledge or
means or both required to commit suicide, including counseling about
lethal doses of drugs, prescribing such lethal doses or supplying the
drugs".
Euthanasia, sometimes referred to as mercy killing, is killing a person, with or without consent, to stop the person from suffering further. Killing a suffering person with consent is called voluntary euthanasia. Killing the person when they are unable to provide consent is called non-voluntary euthanasia.
Killing a person who does not want to die, or who is capable of giving
consent but whose consent has not been solicited, is the crime of involuntary euthanasia.
Right to die
is the belief that people have a right to die, either through various
forms of suicide, euthanasia, or refusing life-saving medical treatment.
Assisted dying vs assisted suicide
Some
advocates for assisted suicide strongly oppose the use of "assisted
suicide" and "suicide" when referring to physician assisted suicide, and
prefer the phrase "assisted dying". The motivation for this is to
distance the debate from the suicides commonly performed by those not
terminally ill and not eligible for assistance where it is legal. They
feel those cases have negatively impacted the word "suicide" to the
point that it bears no relation to the situation where someone who is
suffering irremediably seeks a peaceful death.
Support
Arguments for assisted suicide
One
argument for assisted suicide is that it reduces prolonged suffering in
those with terminal illnesses. When death is imminent (half a year or
less) patients can choose to have assisted death as a medical option to
shorten what the person perceives to be an unbearable dying process.
Pain is mostly not reported as the primary motivation for seeking
physician assisted suicide in the United States;
the three most frequently mentioned end‐of‐life concerns reported by
Oregon residents who took advantage of the Death With Dignity Act in
2015 were: decreasing ability to participate in activities that made
life enjoyable (96.2%), loss of autonomy (92.4%), and loss of dignity (78.4%).
Oregon statistics
A
study of hospice nurses and social workers in Oregon reported that
symptoms of pain, depression, anxiety, extreme air hunger and fear of
the process of dying were more pronounced among hospice patients who did
not request a lethal prescription for barbiturates, the drug used for
physician assisted death.
A Journal of Palliative Medicine report on patterns of hospice
use noted that Oregon was in both the highest quartile of hospice use
and the lowest quartile of potentially concerning patterns of hospice
use. A similar trend was found in Vermont, where AiD was authorized in
2013.
In Oregon, in hospital death rates are at the lowest in the
nation, at home death rates are at the highest in the nation, and
violent suicide among hospice patients has been reduced significantly.
In February 2016, Oregon released a report on their 2015 numbers.
During 2015, there were 218 people in the state who were approved and
received the lethal drugs to end their own life. Of that 218, 132
terminally ill patients ultimately made the decision to ingest drugs,
resulting in their death. According to the state of Oregon Public
Health Division's survey, the majority of the participants, 78%, were 65
years of age or older and predominately Caucasian, 93.1%. 72% of the
terminally ill patients who opted for ending their own lives had been
diagnosed with some form of cancer. In the state of Oregon's 2015
survey, they asked the terminally ill who were participating in medical
aid in dying, what their biggest end-of-life concerns were: 96.2% of
those people mentioned the loss of the ability to participate in
activities that once made them enjoy life, 92.4% mentioned the loss of
autonomy, or their independence of their own thoughts or actions, and
75.4% stated loss of their dignity (Oregon Death With Dignity Act).
Washington State statistics
An
increasing trend in deaths caused from ingesting lethal doses of
medications prescribed by physicians was also noted in Washington: from
64 deaths in 2009 to 202 deaths in 2015. Among the deceased, 72% had terminal cancer and 8% had neurodegenerative diseases (including ALS).
U.S. polls
Polls
conducted by Gallup dating back to 1947 positing the question, "When a
person has a disease that cannot be cured, do you think doctors should
be allowed to end the patient's life by some painless means if the
patient and his family request it?" show support for the practice
increasing from 37% in 1947 to a plateau of approximately 75% lasting
from approximately 1990 to 2005. When the polling question was modified
as such so the question posits "severe pain" as opposed to an incurable
disease, "legalization" as opposed to generally allowing doctors, and
"patient suicide" rather than physician-administered euthanasia, public
support was substantially lower, by approximately 10% to 15%.
A poll conducted by National Journal and Regence Foundation found
that both Oregonians and Washingtonians were more familiar with the
terminology "end-of-life care" than the rest of the country and
residents of both states are slightly more aware of the terms palliative
and hospice care.
A survey from the Journal of Palliative Medicine found that
family caregivers of patients who chose assisted death were more likely
to find positive meaning in caring for a patient and were more prepared
for accepting a patient's death than the family caregivers of patients
who didn't request assisted death.
Safeguards
Many
current assisted death/assisted suicide laws contain provisions that
are intended to provide oversight and investigative processes to prevent
abuse.
This includes eligibility and qualification processes, mandatory
state reporting by the medical team, and medical board oversight. In
Oregon and other states, two doctors and two witnesses must assert that a
person's request for a lethal prescription wasn't coerced or under
undue influence.
These safeguards include proving one's residency and eligibility.
The patient must meet with two physicians and they must confirm the
diagnoses before one can continue; in some cases, they do include a
psychiatric evaluation as well to determine whether or not the patient
is making this decision on their own. The next steps are two oral
requests, a waiting period of a minimum of 15 days before making your
next request. A written request which must be witnessed by two different
people, one of which cannot be a family member, and then another
waiting period by your doctor in which they either say you're eligible
for the drugs or not ("Death with Dignity").
The debate about whether these safeguards work is debated between opponents and proponents.
Religious Stances
Unitarian Universalism
According to a 1988 General Resolution, "Unitarian Universalists
advocate the right to self-determination in dying, and the release from
civil or criminal penalties of those who, under proper safeguards, act
to honor the right of terminally ill patients to select the time of
their own deaths".
Support organizations
Listed below are some major organizations that support medical aid in dying:
Compassion and Choices
Compassion and Choices is a nonprofit organization in support of
end of life care and claims to be the biggest nonprofit in the United
States to do so. Created over 30 years ago the group provides patients
with legal assistance as well as advice and information about medical
aid in dying.
Death with Dignity National Center
The Death with Dignity National Center
is a nonprofit organization that has been in existence since 1993.
This organization is most notably associated with the original writing
and continued advocating of the Oregon Death with Dignity Law that was
enacted on October 27, 1997.
Oregon, Washington, and Vermont laws state that mentally competent, and
terminally ill adult patients can determine if they want to receive
prescription medication so they can die in a humane and peaceful way.
Dignitas (Switzerland)
Dignitas
helps Swiss nationals and foreigners to die by providing advice and
lethal drugs. The legal pre-requisites are that a person must have
either a terminal illness, an unendurable incapacitating disability or
unbearable and uncontrollable pain. However, in practice they also accept mentally ill patients or those without a medical diagnosis. 25% of people in Switzerland who use assisted suicide do not have a terminal illness but are "tired of life",
for example the retired British art teacher who killed herself on 27
March 2014 "in part because she had become fed up with the modern world
of emails, TVs, computers and supermarket ready meals".
Dignity in Dying
Dignity in Dying
Is a United Kingdom-based campaign group for the right to die,
supporting members with advice and information relating to palliative
care, and other end of life options. The organization frequently
campaigns for the right of adults to make choices about their end of
life options. The group was founded in 1935 and has since then been one
of the bigger organizations to openly support assisted suicide in the
UK. Their main goal is for the choice to choose how they die and to have
a completely free choice to their end of life options.
Disabled Activists for Dignity in Dying
DADID is a campaign group created by Dignity in Dying
for disabled people who share the group's perspective on assisted death
in the UK. A Yougov poll undertaken by the National Secular Society, which supports assisted death, suggested that 80% of disabled persons support a change in the law, such as Lord Falconer's Bill
to allow some form of assisted suicide. A 2015 Populus poll showed that
86% of disabled people support the introduction of assisted dying law
in the UK.
Exit
Exit is a Scottish organization that supports a permissive model of right-to-die legislation based on published research and recommendations from Glasgow University using an 'exceptions to the rule' (against euthanasia) format to facilitate transparency and open safeguards. Exit published the world's first guide on medical aid in dying, called How to Die With Dignity (1980); followed by Departing Drugs (1993), and the Five Last Acts series. Exit also publishes a Blog with broad-ranging analysis of assisted-suicide related issues.
Exit International
Exit International is the publisher of the assisted dying guidebook The Peaceful Pill Handbook by Dr. Philip Nitschke and Dr. Fiona Stewart. Founded in 2006 by Nitschke and based in Bellingham, Washington,
Exit International is a pro-choice assisted dying organization with an
online membership of around 18,000 internationally. The organization
holds meetings and workshops in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland,
Australia and New Zealand.
Final Exit Network
Final Exit Network,
Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 for the purpose of
serving as a resource to individuals seeking information and emotional
support in dying medically as a means to end suffering from chronically
painful—though not necessarily terminal—illness.
Humanists UK
Humanists UK is a British charity that promotes humanism. They support the right of those who are suffering incurably to have access to an assisted death, and they have supported various court cases to this effect. In contrast to Dignity in Dying, they do not think assisted dying should only be the right of the terminally ill.
My Death My Decision
My Death My Decision
is a British organisation that believes those who suffer incurably and
have a quality of life below which is acceptable to them should have
access to an assisted death. Similar to Humanists UK, they do not think assisted dying should only be the right of the terminally ill.
World Federation of Right to Die Societies
The World Federation of Right to Die Societies was founded in 1980 and encompasses 38 right-to-die organizations in 23 different countries.
Opposition
Medical ethics
Code of Ethics
The most current version of the American Medical Association's
Code of Ethics states that physician-assisted suicide is prohibited. It
prohibits physician-assisted suicide because it is “fundamentally
incompatible with the physician’s role as healer” and because it would
be “difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal
risks”.
Hippocratic Oath
Some doctors remind that physician-assisted suicide is contrary to the Hippocratic Oath,
which is the oath historically taken by physicians. It states "I will
give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such
counsel".
The original oath however has been modified many times and, contrary to
popular belief, is not required by most modern medical schools. There are also procedures forbidden by the Hippocratic Oath which are in common practice today, such as abortion.
The Declaration of Geneva
The Declaration of Geneva is a revision of the Hippocratic Oath, first drafted in 1948 by the World Medical Association in response to forced euthanasia, eugenics and other medical crimes performed in Nazi Germany. It contains, "I will maintain the utmost respect for human life."
The International Code of Medical Ethics
The International Code of Medical Ethics,
last revised in 2006, includes "A physician shall always bear in mind
the obligation to respect human life" in the section "Duties of
physicians to patients".
The Statement of Marbella
The
Statement of Marbella was adopted by the 44th World Medical Assembly in
Marbella, Spain, in 1992. It provides that "physician-assisted suicide,
like euthanasia, is unethical and must be condemned by the medical
profession."
Opposition because of expansion to people with chronic disorders and disabilities
A concern present among health care professionals who are opposed to
PAS, are the detrimental effects that the procedure can have with regard
to vulnerable populations. This argument is known as the "slippery slope".
This argument encompasses the apprehension that once PAS is initiated
for the terminally ill it will progress to other vulnerable communities,
namely the disabled, and may begin to be used by those who feel less
worthy based on their demographic or socioeconomic status. In addition,
vulnerable populations are more at risk of untimely deaths because,
"patients might be subjected to PAS without their genuine consent".
Religious stances
Catholicism
The
Roman Catholic Church acknowledges the fact that moral decisions
regarding a person's life must be made according to one's own conscience
and faith.
Catholic tradition has said that one's concern for the suffering of
another is not a sufficient reason to decide whether it is appropriate
to act upon euthanasia. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
"God is the creator and author of all life." In this belief system God
created human life, therefore God is the judge when to end life.
From the Roman Catholic Church's perspective, deliberately ending one's
life or the life of another is morally wrong and defies the Catholic
doctrine. Furthermore, ending one's life deprives that person and his or
her loved ones of the time left in life and causes enormous grief and
sorrow for those left behind.
Pope Francis
is the current dominant figure of the Catholic Church. He affirms that
death is a glorious event and should not be decided for by anyone other
than God. Pope Francis insinuates that defending life means defending
its sacredness.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches its followers that the act of
euthanasia is unacceptable because it is perceived as a sin, as it goes
against the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not kill. (You shall not kill)"
As implied by the fifth commandment, the act of assisted suicide
contradicts the dignity of human life as well as the respect one has for
God.
The Roman Catholic Church also recognizes the story of the Good Samaritan.
It uses the story to call earnestly upon the Good Samaritan's actions
and his love for his neighbor. In this tradition, the act of assisted
suicide negates the respect and love we should have for our neighbors,
as it mistakenly places the love God has for his followers in the hands
of physicians.
As an alternative to the physician-assisted suicide and in order
to alleviate pain, the Catholic Church proposes that terminally ill
patients focus on religion and making peace with the Creator while
receiving the love and mercy of their families and caregivers.
Additionally, the Roman Catholic Church recommends that terminally ill
patients should receive palliative care, which deals with physical pain
while treating psychological and spiritual suffering as well, instead of
physician-assisted suicide.
Judaism
While preservation of life is one of the greatest values in Judaism, there are rare instances of suicide and assisted suicide appearing in the Bible and Rabbinic literature.
The medieval authorities debate the legitimacy of those measures and in
what limited circumstances they might apply. The conclusion of the
majority of later rabbinic authorities, and accepted normative practice
within Judaism, is that suicide and assisted suicide can not be
sanctioned even for a terminal patient in intractable pain.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
is against euthanasia. Anyone who takes part in euthanasia, including
"assisted suicide", is regarded as having violated the commandments of
God.
However the Church recognizes that when a person is in the final stages
of terminal illness there may be difficult decisions to be taken. The
Church states that 'When dying becomes inevitable, death should be
looked upon as a blessing and a purposeful part of an eternal existence.
Members should not feel obligated to extend mortal life by means that
are unreasonable.
Organizations opposed to assisted suicide
Listed below are organizations opposed to medical aid in dying:
- ADAPT – the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today is a United States organisation that is active in the disability rights movement. They oppose the legalization of physician-assisted suicide, arguing that it is a "violation of the equal protection guaranteed by the Americans with Disabilities Act".
- Agudath Israel of America
- Autistic Self Advocacy Network
- British Medical Association (neutral 2005-2006)
- Care Not Killing is a group based in the United Kingdom that combines a number of organisations opposed to assisted suicide under a common banner.
- Christian Medical Fellowship
- Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
- The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition International, founded in 1998 in Canada, is an international organisation opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide.
- Family First New Zealand
- Family Institute of Connecticut
- Freed Center for Independent Living A non-profit group founded to empower people with disabilities to exercise their rights.
- International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care
- National Council on Disability
- National Spinal Cord Injury Association
- Not Dead Yet is a United States disability rights group that opposes assisted suicide and euthanasia for people with disabilities.
- Orthodox Union is one of the oldest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States.
- Patients' Rights Action Fund
- Royal College of General Practitioners
- TASH is an international advocacy association of people with disabilities, their family members, other advocates, and people who work in the disability field. The mission of TASH is to promote the full inclusion and participation of children and adults with significant disabilities in every aspect of their community, and to eliminate the social injustices that diminish human rights.
- True Dignity is a United States organization based in the state of Vermont.
- The Russian Orthodox Church Canons consider any form of suicide, except suicides committed out of mental disturbances (insanity), a grave sin and a human fault: "A perpetrator of calculated suicide, who 'did it out of human resentment or other incident of faintheartedness' shall not be granted Christian burial or liturgical commemoration (Timothy of Alexandria, Canon 14).
- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has stated its opposition to assisted suicide.
- Voice for Life
- The World Medical Association's official position is: "Physicians-assisted suicide, like euthanasia, is unethical and must be condemned by the medical profession. Where the assistance of the physician is intentionally and deliberately directed at enabling an individual to end his or her own life, the physician acts unethically. However the right to decline medical treatment is a basic right of the patient and the physician does not act unethically even if respecting such a wish results in the death of the patient."
Neutrality
There
have been calls for organisations representing medical professionals to
take a neutral stance on assisted dying, rather than a position of
opposition. The reasoning is that this would better reflect the views of
medical professionals and that of wider society, and prevent those
bodies from exerting undue influence over the debate.
The UK Royal College of Nursing voted in July 2009 to move to a neutral position on assisted dying.
The California Medical Association
dropped its long-standing opposition in 2015 during the debate over
whether an assisted dying bill should be introduced there, prompted in
part by cancer sufferer Brittany Maynard. The California End of Life Option Act was signed into law later that year.
In December 2017, the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) voted to repeal their opposition to physician-assisted suicide and adopt a position of neutrality.
In October 2018, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) voted to adopt a position of neutrality from one of opposition. This is contrary to the position taken by the American Medical Association (AMA), who oppose it.
In January 2019 the British Royal College of Physicians
announced it would adopt a position of neutrality until two-thirds of
its members thinks it should either support or oppose the legalisation
of assisted dying.
Attitudes of physicians and healthcare professionals
It
is widely acknowledged that physicians must play some role in the
process of assisted suicide and euthanasia (as evident in the name
"physician-assisted suicide"), often putting them at the forefront of
the issue. Decades of opinion research shows that physicians in the US
and several European countries are less supportive of legalization of
PAS than the general public.
In the US, although "about two-thirds of the American public since the
1970s" have supported legalization, surveys of physicians "rarely show
as much as half supporting a move".
However, physician and other healthcare professional opinions vary
widely on the issue of assisted suicide, as shown in the following
tables.
| Study | Population | Willing to Assist PAS | Not Willing to Assist PAS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Medical Association, 2011 | Canadian Medical Association (n=2,125) | 16% | 44% | ||
| Cohen, 1994 (NEJM) | Washington state doctors (n=938) | 40% | 49% | ||
| Lee, 1996 (NEJM) | Oregon state doctors (n=2,761) | 46% | 31% | ||
| Study | Population | In favor of PAS being legal | Not in favor of PAS being legal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medscape Ethics Report, 2014 | U.S.-based doctors | 54% | 31% | ||
| Seale, 2009 | United Kingdom physicians (n=3,733) | 35% | 62.2% | ||
| Cohen, 1994 (NEJM) | Washington state doctors (n=938) | 53% | 39% | ||
Attitudes toward PAS vary by health profession as well; an extensive
survey of 3733 medical physicians was sponsored by the National Council
for Palliative Care, Age Concern, Help the Hospices, Macmillan Cancer
Support, the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the MS Society and Sue
Ryder Care showed that opposition to euthanasia and PAS was highest
among Palliative Care and Care of the Elderly specialists, with more
than 90% of palliative care specialists against a change in the law.
In a 1997 study by Glasgow University's Institute of Law &
Ethics in Medicine found pharmacists (72%) and anaesthetists (56%) to be
generally in favor of legalizing PAS. Pharmacists were twice as likely
as medical GPs to endorse the view that "if a patient has decided to end
their own life then doctors should be allowed in law to assist".
A report published in January 2017 by NPR suggests that the
thoroughness of protections that allow physicians to refrain from
participating in the municipalities that legalized assisted suicide
within the United States presently creates a lack of access by those who
would otherwise be eligible for the practice.
A poll in the United Kingdom showed that 54% of General
Practitioners are either supportive or neutral towards the introduction
of assisted dying laws. A similar poll on Doctors.net.uk published in the BMJ said that 55% of doctors would support it. In contrast the BMA, which represents doctors in the UK, opposes it.
An anonymous, confidential postal survey of all General
Practitioners in Northern Ireland, conducted in the year 2000, found
that over 70% of responding GPs were opposed to physician assisted
suicide and voluntary active euthanasia.
Legality by country
Voluntary euthanasia was legalized in the Netherlands (in 2002), Belgium (in 2002), Luxembourg (in 2008), and Canada (in 2016).
Assisted suicide, where the patient has to take the final action
themselves (unlike voluntary euthanasia), is legal in Canada, the
Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and parts of the United States. In
the United States there are assisted dying laws restricted to terminally
ill adults in Oregon, Montana, Washington, Vermont, Hawaii, California, Colorado and Washington D.C.
The laws require that the patient's attending physician certify mental
competence. Oregon was the first United States state to legalize
assisted suicide, which was achieved through popular vote. The Act was a
citizens' initiative passed twice by Oregon voters. The first time was
in a general election in November 1994 when it passed by a margin of 51%
to 49%. An injunction delayed implementation of the Act until it was
lifted on October 27, 1997. In November 1997, a measure was placed on
the general election ballot to repeal the Act. Voters chose to retain
the Act by a margin of 60% to 40%.
Australia
Assisted suicide is currently illegal throughout Australia with the exception of Victoria where the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Victoria) was passed on 29 November 2017. It was legal in the Northern Territory for a short time under the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995.
Belgium
The "Euthanasia Act" legalized euthanasia in Belgium in 2002, but it didn't cover assisted suicide.
Canada
Suicide was considered a criminal offence in Canada until 1972.
Physician-assisted suicide has been legal in the Province of Quebec
since June 5, 2014. It was declared legal across the country because of the Supreme Court of Canada decision Carter v Canada (AG),
of February 6, 2015. After a lengthy delay, the House of Commons passed
a Bill (C-14) in mid June 2016 that allows for doctor-assisted suicide.
Between December 10, 2015 and June 30, 2017, since the passing of Bill
C-14, over 2,149 medically assisted deaths were documented in Canada.
Research published by Health Canada illustrates physician preference for
physician administered euthanasia, citing concerns of effective
administration and prevention of the potential complications of
self-administration by patients.
China
In China, assisted suicide is illegal under Articles 232 and 233 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China. In China, suicide or neglect is considered homicide and can be punished by three to seven years in prison.
In May 2011, Zhong Yichun, a farmer, was sentenced two years'
imprisonment by the People's Court of Longnan County, in China's Jiangxi
Province for assisting Zeng Qianxiang to commit suicide. Zeng suffered
from mental illness and repeatedly asked Zhong to help him commit
suicide. In October 2010, Zeng took excessive sleeping pills and lay in a
cave. As planned, Zhong called him 15 minutes later to confirm that he
was dead and buried him. However, according to the autopsy report, the
cause of death was from suffocation, not an overdose. Zhong was
convicted of criminal negligence. In August 2011, Zhong appealed the
court sentence, but it was rejected.
In 1992, a physician was accused of murdering a patient with advanced cancer by lethal injection. He was eventually acquitted.
Colombia
In
May 1997 the Colombian Constitutional Court allowed for the euthanasia
of sick patients who requested to end their lives, by passing Article
326 of the 1980 Penal Code.
This ruling owes its success to the efforts of a group that strongly
opposed euthanasia. When one of its members brought a lawsuit to the
Colombian Supreme Court against it, the court issued a 6 to 3 decision
that "spelled out the rights of a terminally ill person to engage in
voluntary euthanasia".
In February 2015, the Supreme Court gave the government 30 days
to create a comprehensive set of guidelines for doctors, to assist them
in avoiding breaches of the law, as although technically legal, many
physicians face lawsuits where they must prove that all legal
requirements were met prior to the procedure. This fear of legal action
has led many doctors to refuse to perform the procedure, in spite of its
legality.
Denmark
Assisted
suicide is illegal in Denmark. Passive euthanasia, or the refusal to
accept treatment, is not illegal. One survey found that 71% of Denmark's
population was in favor of legalizing voluntary euthanasia and assisted
suicide.
France
Assisted
suicide is not legal in France. The controversy over legalising
euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide is not as big as in the United
States because of the country's "well developed hospice care programme".
However, in 2000 the controversy over the topic was ignited with
Vincent Humbert. After a car crash that left him "unable to 'walk, see,
speak, smell or taste'", he used the movement of his right thumb to
write a book, I Ask the Right to Die (Je vous demande le droit de mourir) in which he voiced his desire to "die legally".
After his appeal was denied, his mother assisted in killing him by
injecting him with an overdose of barbiturates that put him into a coma,
killing him two days later. Though his mother was arrested for aiding
in her son's death and later acquitted, the case did jump-start new legislation
which states that when medicine serves "no other purpose than the
artificial support of life" it can be "suspended or not undertaken".
Germany
Killing somebody in accordance with their demands is always illegal under the German criminal code (Paragraph 216, "Killing at the request of the victim; mercy killing").
Assisting suicide by, for example, providing poison or a weapon,
is generally legal. Since suicide itself is legal, assistance or
encouragement is not punishable by the usual legal mechanisms dealing
with complicity and incitement (German criminal law follows the idea of
"accessories of complicity" which states that "the motives of a person
who incites another person to commit suicide, or who assists in its
commission, are irrelevant").
Nor is assisting with suicide explicitly outlawed by the criminal code.
There can however be legal repercussions under certain conditions for a
number of reasons. Aside from laws regulating firearms, the trade and
handling of controlled substances and the like (e.g. when acquiring
poison for the suicidal person), this concerns three points:
Free vs. manipulated will
If
the suicidal person is not acting out of his own free will, then
assistance is punishable by any of a number of homicide offences that
the criminal code provides for, as having "acted through another person"
(§25, section 1 of the German criminal code,
usually called "mittelbare Täterschaft"). Action out of free will is
not ruled out by the decision to end one's life in itself; it can be
assumed as long as a suicidal person "decides on his own fate up to the
end [...] and is in control of the situation".
Free will cannot be assumed, however, if someone is manipulated
or deceived. A classic textbook example for this, in German law, is the
so-called Sirius case on which the Federal Court of Justice
ruled in 1983: The accused had convinced an acquaintance that she would
be reincarnated into a better life if she killed herself. She
unsuccessfully attempted suicide, leading the accused to be charged
with, and eventually convicted of attempted murder. (The accused had also convinced the acquaintance that he hailed from the star Sirius, hence the name of the case).
Apart from manipulation, the criminal code states three conditions under which a person is not acting under his own free will:
- if the person is under 14
- if the person has "one of the mental diseases listed in §20 of the German Criminal Code"
- a person that is acting under a state of emergency.
Under these circumstances, even if colloquially speaking one might
say a person is acting of his own free will, a conviction of murder is
possible.
Neglected duty to rescue
German
criminal law obliges everybody to come to the rescue of others in an
emergency, within certain limits (§323c of the German criminal code,
"Omission to effect an easy rescue"). This is also known as a duty to rescue
in English. Under this rule, the party assisting in the suicide can be
convicted if, in finding the suicidal person in a state of unconsciousness, they do not do everything in their power to revive the subject.
In other words, if someone assists a person in committing suicide,
leaves, but comes back and finds the person unconscious, they must try
to revive them.
This reasoning is disputed by legal scholars, citing that a
life-threatening condition that is part, so to speak, of a suicide
underway, is not an emergency. For those who would rely on that defence,
the Federal Court of Justice has considered it an emergency in the
past.
Homicide by omission
German
law puts certain people in the position of a warrantor
(Garantenstellung) for the well-being of another, e.g. parents, spouses,
doctors and police officers. Such people might find themselves legally
bound to do what they can to prevent a suicide; if they do not, they are
guilty of homicide by omission.
Iceland
Assisted
suicide is illegal. "At the current time, there are no initiatives in
Iceland that seek the legalization of euthanasia or assisted suicide.
The discussion on euthanasia has never received any interest in Iceland,
and both lay people and health care professionals seem to have little
interest in the topic. A few articles have appeared in newspapers but
gained little attention."
Ireland
Assisted
suicide is illegal." Both euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal
under Irish law. Depending on the circumstances, euthanasia is regarded
as either manslaughter or murder and is punishable by up to life
imprisonment."
Luxembourg
In
March 2003, a vote to legalise assisted suicide was lost by a single
vote (at the time, assisted suicide was not illegal, as suicide was
permitted under the criminal code, but a person assisting someone to
take their own life could face prosecution).
After again failing to get royal assent for legalizing euthanasia and
assisted suicide, in December 2008 Luxembourg's parliament amended the
country's constitution to take this power away from the monarch, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Euthanasia and assisted suicide were legalized in the country in April, 2009.
The Netherlands
Netherlands is the first country in the world formally to legalise euthanasia.
Physician-assisted suicide is legal under the same conditions as
euthanasia. Physician-assisted suicide became allowed under the Act of
2001 which states the specific procedures and requirements needed in
order to provide such assistance. Assisted suicide in the Netherlands
follows a medical model which means that only doctors of patients who
are suffering "unbearably without hope"
are allowed to grant a request for an assisted suicide. The Netherlands
allows people over the age of 12 to pursue an assisted suicide when
deemed necessary.
New Zealand
Assisted suicide is illegal in New Zealand. Under Section 179 of the Crimes Act 1961, it is illegal to 'aid and abet suicide.'
South Africa
South
Africa is struggling with the debate over legalizing euthanasia. Owing
to the underdeveloped health care system that pervades the majority of
the country, Willem Landman, "a member of the South African Law
Commission, at a symposium on euthanasia at the World Congress of Family
Doctors" stated that many South African doctors would be willing to
perform acts of euthanasia when it became legalized in the country.
He feels that because of the lack of doctors in the country,
"[legalizing] euthanasia in South Africa would be premature and
difficult to put into practice [...]".
On 30 April 2015 the High Court in Pretoria
granted Advocate Robin Stransham-Ford an order that would allow a
doctor to assist him in taking his own life without the threat of
prosecution. On 6 December 2016 the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned
the High Court ruling.
Switzerland
Though it is illegal to assist a patient in dying in some circumstances, there are others where there is no offence committed. The relevant provision of the Swiss Criminal Code
refers to "a person who, for selfish reasons, incites someone to commit
suicide or who assists that person in doing so will, if the suicide was
carried out or attempted, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment (Zuchthaus) of up to 5 years or a term of imprisonment (Gefängnis)."
A person brought to court on a charge could presumably avoid
conviction by proving that they were "motivated by the good intentions
of bringing about a requested death for the purposes of relieving "suffering" rather than for "selfish" reasons.
In order to avoid conviction, the person has to prove that the deceased
knew what he or she was doing, had capacity to make the decision, and
had made an "earnest" request, meaning they asked for death several
times. The person helping also has to avoid actually doing the act that
leads to death, lest they be convicted under Article 114: Killing on
request (Tötung auf Verlangen) -
A person who, for decent reasons, especially compassion, kills a person
on the basis of his or her serious and insistent request, will be
sentenced to a term of imprisonment (Gefängnis). For instance, it should
be the suicide subject who actually presses the syringe or takes the
pill, after the helper had prepared the setup.
This way the country can criminalise certain controversial acts, which
many of its people would oppose, while legalising a narrow range of
assistive acts for some of those seeking help to end their lives.
In July 2009, British conductor Sir Edward Downes
and his wife Joan died together at a suicide clinic outside Zürich
"under circumstances of their own choosing". Sir Edward was not
terminally ill, but his wife was diagnosed with rapidly developing
cancer.
In March 2010, the PBS FRONTLINE
TV program in the United States showed a documentary called "The
Suicide Tourist" which told the story of Professor Craig Ewert, his
family, and Dignitas, and their decision to commit assisted suicide using sodium pentobarbital in Switzerland after he was diagnosed and suffering with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
In May 2011, Zurich
held a referendum that asked voters whether (i) assisted suicide should
be prohibited outright; and (ii) whether Dignitas and other assisted
suicide providers should not admit overseas users. Zurich voters heavily
rejected both bans, despite anti-euthanasia lobbying from two Swiss social conservative political parties, the Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland and Federal Democratic Union.
The outright ban proposal was rejected by 84% of voters, while 78%
voted to keep services open should overseas users require them.
In June 2011, The BBC televised the assisted suicide of Peter
Smedley, a canning factory owner, who was suffering from motor neurone
disease. The programme – Sir Terry Pratchett's Choosing To Die –
told the story of Peter's journey to the end where he used The Dignitas
Clinic, a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland, to assist him in carrying
out the taking of his own life.
The programme shows Peter eating chocolates to counter the unpalatable
taste of the liquid he drinks to end his own life. Moments after
drinking the liquid, Peter begged for water, gasped for breath and
became red, he then fell into a deep sleep where he snored heavily while
holding his wife's hand. Minutes later, Peter stopped breathing and
his heart stopped beating.
In Switzerland non-physician-assisted suicide is legal, the
assistance mostly being provided by volunteers, whereas in Belgium and
the Netherlands, a physician must be present. In Switzerland, the
doctors are primarily there to assess the patient's decision capacity
and prescribe the lethal drugs. Additionally, unlike cases in the United
States, a person is not required to have a terminal illness but only
the capacity to make decisions. About 25% of people in Switzerland who
take advantage of assisted suicide do not have a terminal illness but
are simply old or "tired of life".
Uruguay
Assisted suicide, while criminal, does not appear to have caused any
convictions, as article 37 of the Penal Code (effective 1934) states:
"The judges are authorized to forego punishment of a person whose
previous life has been honorable where he commits a homicide motivated
by compassion, induced by repeated requests of the victim."
United Kingdom
England and Wales
Deliberately assisting a suicide is illegal. Between 2003 and 2006 Lord Joffe
made four attempts to introduce bills that would have legalised
assisted suicide in England & Wales—all were rejected by the UK
Parliament.
In the meantime the Director of Public Prosecutions has clarified the
criteria under which an individual will be prosecuted in England and
Wales for assisting in another person's suicide. These have not been tested by an appellate court as yet.
In 2014 Lord Falconer
of Thoroton tabled an Assisted Dying Bill in the House of Lords which
passed its Second Reading but ran out of time before the General
Election. During its passage peers voted down two amendments which were
proposed by opponents of the Bill. In 2015 Labour MP Rob Marris
introduced another Bill, based on the Falconer proposals, in the House
of Commons. The Second Reading was the first time the House was able to
vote on the issue since 1997. A Populus poll had found that 82% of the
British public agreed with the proposals of Lord Falconer's Assisted
Dying Bill. However, in a free vote on 11 September 2015, only 118 MPs were in favour and 330 against, thus defeating the bill.
Scotland
Unlike
the other jurisdictions in the United Kingdom, suicide was not illegal
in Scotland before 1961 (and still is not) thus no associated offences
were created in imitation. Depending on the actual nature of any
assistance given to a suicide, the offences of murder or culpable homicide
might be committed or there might be no offence at all; the nearest
modern prosecutions bearing comparison might be those where a culpable
homicide conviction has been obtained when drug addicts have died
unintentionally after being given "hands on" non-medical assistance with
an injection. Modern law regarding the assistance of someone who
intends to die has a lack of certainty as well as a lack of relevant
case law; this has led to attempts to introduce statutes providing more
certainty.
Independent MSP Margo MacDonald's "End of Life Assistance Bill"
was brought before the Scottish Parliament to permit assisted suicide in
January 2010. The Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland,
the largest denomination in Scotland, opposed the bill. The bill was
rejected by a vote of 85–16 (with 2 abstentions) in December 2010.
The Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill was introduced on 13 November 2013 by the late Margo MacDonald MSP and was taken up by Patrick Harvie
MSP on Ms MacDonald's death. The Bill entered the main committee
scrutiny stage in January 2015 and reached a vote in Parliament several
months later; however the bill was again rejected.
Northern Ireland
Health is a devolved matter in the United Kingdom and as such it would be for the Northern Ireland Assembly to legislate for assisted dying as it sees fit. As of 2018, there has been no such bill tabled in the Assembly.
United States
State laws regarding assisted suicide in the United States
1 In some states assisted suicide is protected through court ruling even though specific legislation allowing it does not exist.
Legal
Legal under court ruling1
Illegal
1 In some states assisted suicide is protected through court ruling even though specific legislation allowing it does not exist.
Assisted death is legal in the American states of Colorado, Hawaii, California (via the California End of Life Option Act), Oregon (via the Oregon Death with Dignity Act), Washington (Washington Death with Dignity Act), and Vermont (Patient Choice and Control at End of Life Act). In Montana (through the 2009 trial court ruling Baxter v. Montana),
the court found no public policy against assisting suicide, so consent
may be raised as a defense at trial. Oregon and Washington specify some
restrictions. It was briefly legal in New Mexico from 2014, but this verdict was overturned in 2015. New Jersey
is the most recent state that has legalized assisted suicide, with a
bill passed by the state assembly in March and approved by the Governor
on April 12, 2019. The law is expected to go into effect on August 1,
2019.
Oregon requires a physician to prescribe drugs but, it must be
self-administered. For the patient to be eligible, the patient must be
diagnosed by an attending physician as well as by a consulting
physician, with a terminal illness that will cause the death of the
individual within six months. The law states that, in order to
participate, a patient must be: 1) 18 years of age or older, 2) a
resident of Oregon, 3) capable of making and communicating health care
decisions for him/herself, and 4) diagnosed with a terminal illness that
will lead to death within six months. It is up to the attending
physician to determine whether these criteria have been met.
It is required the patient orally request the medication at least twice
and contribute at least one (1) written request. The physician must
notify the patient of alternatives; such as palliative care, hospice and
pain management. Lastly the physician is to request but not require the
patient to notify their next of kin that they are requesting a
prescription for a lethal dose of medication. Assuming all guidelines
are met and the patient is deemed competent and completely sure they
wish to end their life, the physician will prescribe the drugs.
The law was passed in 1997. As of 2013, a total of 1,173 people
had DWDA prescriptions written and 752 patients had died from ingesting
drugs prescribed under the DWDA. In 2013, there were approximately 22 assisted deaths per 10,000 total deaths in Oregon.
Washington's rules and restrictions are similar, if not exactly
the same, as Oregon's. Not only does the patient have to meet the above
criteria, they also have to be examined by not one, but two doctors
licensed in their state of residence. Both doctors must come to the same
conclusion about the patient's prognosis. If one doctor does not see
the patient fit for the prescription, then the patient must undergo
psychological inspection to tell whether or not the patient is in fact
capable and mentally fit to make the decision of assisted death or not.
In May 2013, Vermont became the fourth state in the union to
legalize medical aid-in-dying. Vermont's House of Representatives voted
75–65 to approve the bill, Patient Choice and Control at End of Life
Act. This bill states that the qualifying patient must be at least 18, a
Vermont resident and suffering from an incurable and irreversible
disease, with less than six months to live. Also, two physicians,
including the prescribing doctor must make the medical determination.
In January 2014, it seemed as though New Mexico had inched closer
to being the fifth state in the United States to legalize assisted
suicide via a court ruling.
"This court cannot envision a right more fundamental, more private or
more integral to the liberty, safety and happiness of a New Mexican than
the right of a competent, terminally ill patient to choose aid in
dying," wrote Judge Nan G. Nash of the Second District Court in
Albuquerque. The NM attorney general's office said it was studying the
decision and whether to appeal to the State Supreme Court. However, this
was overturned on August 11, 2015 by the New Mexico Court of Appeals,
in a 2-1 ruling, that overturned the Bernalillo County District Court
Ruling. The Court gave the verdict: "We conclude that aid in dying is
not a fundamental liberty interest under the New Mexico Constitution".
In November 2016, the citizens of Colorado
approved Proposition 106, the Colorado End of Life Options Act, with
65% in favor. This made it the third state to legalize medical
aid-in-dying by a vote of the people, raising the total to six states.
The punishment for participating in physician-assisted death
(PAD) varies throughout many states. The state of Wyoming does not
“recognize common law crimes and does not have a statute specifically
prohibiting assisted suicide”. In Florida, “every person deliberately
assisting another in the commission of self-murder shall be guilty of
manslaughter, a felony of the second degree”.
States currently considering assisted suicide laws
Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin.
Washington vs. Glucksberg
In Washington, physician-assisted suicide did not become legal until 2008.
In 1997, four Washington physicians and three terminally ill patients
brought forth a lawsuit that would challenge the ban on medical aid in
dying that was in place at the time. This lawsuit was first part of a
district court hearing, where it ruled in favor of Glucksberg, which was the group of physicians and terminally ill patients. The lawsuit was then affirmed by the Ninth Circuit. Thus, it was taken to the Supreme Court, and there the Supreme Court decided to grant Washington certiorari.
Eventually, the Supreme Court decided, with a unanimous vote, that
medical aid in dying was not a protected right under the constitution as
of the time of this case. The laws and arguments on this topic are often argued and changed depending on legal evaluation and decision.
Brittany Maynard
A highly publicized case in the United States was the death of Brittany Maynard in 2014. After being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer,
Maynard decided that instead of suffering with the side effects the
cancer would bring, she wanted to choose when she would die. She was
residing in California when she was diagnosed, where assisted death was
not legal. She and her husband moved to Oregon where assisted death was
legal, so she could take advantage of the program. Before her death, she
started the Brittany Maynard fund, which works to legalize the choice
of ending one's life in cases of a terminal illness. Her public advocacy
motivated her family to continue to try and get assisted death laws
passed in all 50 states.
Published research
A
study approved by the Dutch Ministry of Health, the Dutch Ministry of
Justice, and the Royal Dutch Medical Association reviewed the efficacy
in cases of physician-aided dying (PAD).These studies, conducted in the
Netherlands in 1990, 1991, 1995 and 1996 totaling 649 cases of which 114
cases were physician-assisted suicide and 535 were euthanasia, showed
complications of any category were of higher frequency in cases of
assisted suicide than in cases of euthanasia.
This showed that 32% of cases had complications. These included 12%
with time to death longer than expected (45 min – 14 days), 9% with
problems administering the required drugs, 9% with a physical symptom
(e.g. nausea, vomiting, myoclonus) and 2% waking from coma. In 18% of
cases the doctors provided euthanasia because of problems or failures
with PAD.
The Portland (Oregon) Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Department of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health and Science University set out to assess the prevalence of depression in 58 patients who had chosen PAD.
Of 15 patients who went to receive PAD, three (20%) had a clinical
depression. All patients who participated in the study were determined
in advance to be mentally competent. The authors conclude that the
"...current practice of the (Oregon) Death with Dignity Act may fail to
protect some patients whose choices are influenced by depression from
receiving a prescription for a lethal drug".
In a Dutch study of patients with severe and persistent symptoms
requiring sedation, the researchers found that only 9% of patients
received a palliative care consultation prior to being sedated.
From 1990 to 1995 a group of doctors in the Netherlands
interviewed and studied physicians in charge of giving patients the life
ending drugs used in assisted suicide cases. They found that from 1990
to 1995 the use of this method rose slightly as more patients were
turning to assisted suicide as an end of life option. From 1990 to 1995
the number of deaths from assisted suicide methods had risen from 486 in
1990 to 1466 in 1995. When interviewing these physicians they found
that 88% had been asked for the life ending drugs and 77% reported they
had asked for the drugs at a specific time. They also discovered there
was a number of physicians equal to about 0.7% who had given their
patients these life ending drugs without the patient's explicit consent.
Popular culture
- Films
- Soylent Green
- Right to Die?
- Hin und weg
- How to Die in Oregon
- Me Before You
- Miele (Honey)
- Million Dollar Baby
- Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside)
- Guzaarish (2010 film)
- The Suicide Tourist
- The Life of David Gale
- You don't know Jack
- Paddleton
- Last Cab to Darwin (film)
Television
In the American television series House, assisted suicide is mentioned multiple times. The character Allison Cameron assisted in the death of a patient in the episode Informed Consent after its revealed he has a terminal condition. In the episode Known Unknowns, Dr. Wilson, an oncologist,
reveals he indirectly provided a patient dying from cancer the code to
increase his morphine level to a lethal amount leading to the patients
death. In the episode The Dig, Thirteen reveals she assisted her brother in his suicide who was suffering from advanced symptoms of Huntington's disease and that was she was sent to prison for overprescribing. In the same episode, House promises to assist her in killing herself once her own Huntington's symptoms get too bad.
