How many countries have legalised euthanasia

Passive euthanasia is when a patient suffers from an incurable disease and decides not to apply life-prolonging treatments, such as artificial nutrition or hydration. It's important not to confuse passive euthanasia with withdrawing life-sustaining treatment in the person's best interests. The latter can be part of palliative care and not necessarily euthanasia. Some countries like Spain and Portugal allow for withdrawing life-sustaining treatment in the person's best interests, but the official practices of euthanasia passive or active and assisted dying remain illegal.

France is another example of how fragmented the legislation is across the EU. This content is not available in your region. Doctors who are considering allowing assisted dying must consult with at least one other, independent doctor to confirm that the patient meets the necessary criteria.

Before the law was passed, assisting someone to die in Spain was punishable with up to ten years in jail. Belgium allows euthanasia and assisted suicide for those with unbearable suffering and no prospect of improvement.

If a patient is not terminally ill, there is a one-month waiting period before euthanasia can be performed. Belgium has no age restriction for children, but they must have a terminal illness to meet the criteria for approval.

Assisted suicide and euthanasia are both legal in Luxembourg for adults. Patients must have an incurable condition with constant, intolerable mental or physical suffering and no prospect of improvement. In March , Canada expanded its law on assisted dying.

Medically assisted deaths counted for 1. Colombia was the first Latin American country to decriminalise euthanasia, in , and the first such death happened in The Australian Senate had previously repealed the law in owing to a public backlash against the law that allowed it. To qualify for legal approval, you have to be an adult with decision-making capacity, you must be a resident of Victoria, and have intolerable suffering due to an illness that gives you a life expectancy of less than six months, or 12 months if suffering from a neurodegenerative illness.

A doctor cannot bring up the idea of assisted dying; the patient must raise it first. You have to make three requests to the scheme, including one in writing. You must then be assessed by two experienced doctors, one of whom is a specialist, to determine your eligibility, said The Guardian. Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania have since joined Victoria in legalising voluntary assisted dying. And, in September , Queensland became the fifth Australian jurisdiction to allow voluntary euthanasia, with an overwhelming majority of MPs voting in favour despite the state being one of the most conservative.

Voluntary assisted dying will be restricted to people with an advanced and progressive condition that causes intolerable suffering and which is expected to cause death within a year, reported The Guardian. Several states now offer legal assisted dying. Doctors can write patients a prescription for the fatal drugs, but a healthcare professional must be present when they are administered.

All of the states require a day waiting period between two oral requests and a two-day waiting period between a final written request and the fulfilling of the prescription. Palliative sedation, in which someone can ask to be deeply sedated until they die, is permitted in France, but assisted dying is not.

In April , a proposal to legalise assisted dying for people with incurable diseases was blocked in the French parliament. The law will allow terminally ill people with less than six months to live the opportunity to choose assisted dying if approved by two doctors. Assisted suicide is more widely available than euthanasia.

Laws permitting assisted suicide came into force in the Australian state of Victoria last month. Again, the exact circumstances in which assisted suicide is allowed vary, with some jurisdictions — Oregon and Vermont — only allowing it in the case of terminal illness. For some places it is permitted not because laws have been passed, but because laws do not prohibit it. For example in Switzerland it is an offence to assist a suicide if it is done with selfish motives.

Other countries, including New Zealand , are considering legalising some form of euthanasia. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal. Euthanasia can lead to a murder charge and assisted suicide could result in a sentence of up to 14 years in prison. That said, anonymous surveys suggest euthanasia does occur in the UK — but it is very rare. A study published in using responses from more than 3, medical professionals suggested 0. It is not normally illegal for a patient to be given treatment to relieve distress that could indirectly shorten life — but this is not euthanasia.

It is already legal in the UK for patients to refuse treatment, even if that could shorten their life, and for medical care to be withdrawn by doctors in certain cases, for example where a patient is in a vegetative state and will not recover sometimes controversially called passive euthanasia. Total figures from around the world are hard to collate. Figures from Switzerland show that the numbers of those living in the country who underwent assisted suicide rose from in to in According to the Regional Euthanasia Review Committees RTE , in the Netherlands there were 6, cases of voluntary euthanasia or assisted suicide — 4.

Agnes van der Heide, professor of decision-making and care at the end of life at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, says the reason euthanasia is more common than assisted suicide in the Netherlands is multifaceted. Doctors may feel that by performing the deed themselves they can have more control over dosages and the time the procedure takes. There might also be an element of viewing the act as a medical procedure and hence preferring a physician to do the job.

Lewis says the vast majority of people do not end their lives by euthanasia even if they can. Noa Pothoven, who was 17, died last month — she had anorexia and severe depression.