Euthanasia outside Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 155 (32) ◽  
pp. 1259-1264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Máté Julesz
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Healthcare Worker ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Active Form ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Legal Institution ◽  
Active Euthanasia ◽  
Member States ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Difference

The passive form of euthanasia is legalized almost in every civilized country. Its active form is not a generally accepted legal institution. In Europe, active euthanasia is legalized only in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. In Australia, the Act on the Rights of the Terminally Ill of 1995 legalized the institution of assisted suicide, which is not identical to active euthanasia. The difference lies in the fact that legalized active euthanasia means that the author of a murder is not punishable (under certain circumstances), whilst assisted suicide is not about murder, rather about suicide. In the first case, the patient is killed on his or her request by someone else. In the second case, the patient himself or herself executes the act of self-killing (by the assistance of a healthcare worker). In Australia, the institution of assisted suicide was repealed in 1997. Assisted suicide is legal in four USA member states: in Vermont, Washington, Montana and Oregon. In Uruguay, the active form of euthanasia has been legal since 1932. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(32), 1259–1264.

scholarly journals Aktív eutanázia Kolumbiában és asszisztált öngyilkosság Kaliforniában

2016 ◽  
Vol 157 (5) ◽  
pp. 174-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Máté Julesz
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Active Form ◽  
The United States ◽  
Active Euthanasia ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
European Union Law ◽  
Member States

The institution of active euthanasia has been legal in Colombia since 2015. In California, the regulation on physician-assisted suicide will come into effect on January 1, 2016. The legal institution of active euthanasia is not accepted under the law of the United States of America, however, physician-assisted suicide is accepted in an increasing number of member states. The related regulation in Oregon is imitated in other member states. In South America, Colombia is not the first country to legalize active euthanasia: active euthanasia has been legal in Uruguay since 1932. The North American legal tradition markedly differs from the South American one and both are incompatible with the Central European rule of law. In Hungary and in most European Union countries, solely the passive form of euthanasia is legal. In the Benelux countries, the active form of euthanasia is legal because the supranational law of the European Union does not prohibit it. Notwithstanding, European Union law does not prescribe legalization of either the active form of euthanasia, or the physician-assisted suicide. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(5), 174–179.

Passive euthanasia and living will

2014 ◽  
Vol 155 (27) ◽  
pp. 1057-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Máté Julesz
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Active Form ◽  
Family Doctor ◽  
Living Will ◽  
Legal Institution ◽  
Active Euthanasia ◽  
Passive Euthanasia ◽  
Mercy Killing ◽  
The Family ◽  
Life Sustaining Treatment

This article deals with the notional distinction between murder of first degree and passive euthanasia. In Hungary, active euthanasia is considered to be a murder of first degree, whilst the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and Switzerland have legalized the active form of mercy killing in Europe. The palliative terminal medicine, when e.g. giving pain-killer morphin to the patient, might result in shrinking the patient’s life-span, and thus causing indirect euthanasia. However, the legal institution of living will exists in several counter-euthanasia countries. The living will allows future patients to express their decision in advance to refuse a life-sustaining treatment, e.g. in case of irreversible coma. The institution of living will exists in Germany and in Hungary too. Nevertheless, the formal criteria of living will make it hardly applicable. The patient ought to express his/her will before notary in advance, and he/she should hand it over when being hospitalized. If the patient is not able to present his/her living will to his/her doctor in the hospital, then his/her only hope remains that he/she has given a copy of the living will to the family doctor previously, and the family doctor notifies the hospital. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(27), 1057–1062.

Relatives' Perspective on the Terminally Ill Patients Who Died after Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Interview Study in the Netherlands

Death Studies ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Jacques Georges ◽  
Bregje D. Onwuteaka-Philipsen ◽  
Martien T. Muller ◽  
Gerrit van der Wal ◽  
Agnes van der Heide ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Interview Study ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Terminally Ill Patients

scholarly journals Me and My Body: The Relevance of the Distinction for the Difference between Withdrawing Life Support and Euthanasia

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 671-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew McGee
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
First Case ◽  
Lethal Injection ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One

In a paper that has recently attracted discussion, David Shaw has attempted to criticize the distinction the law has drawn between withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining measures on the one hand, and euthanasia on the other, by claiming that the body of a terminally ill patient should be seen as akin to life support. Shaw compares two cases that we might, at least at first, regard as distinct, and argues that they are not. In the first case, Adam, who is dying of lung cancer, is connected to a ventilator and requests to be disconnected. In the second case, Brian, also dying of cancer, is not connected to anything, and so he requests his doctor to provide him with a lethal injection. In the first case, Shaw contends, Adam is being kept alive by a ventilator. In the second case, Brian is being kept alive by his body.

Physician-Assisted Suicide in Psychiatry: Developments in the Netherlands

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Legemaate ◽  
J.K.M. Gevers
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Dutch Society

For more than two decades euthanasia and assisted suicide have been openly debated in the Netherlands. This development started in 1973 when the Regional Court in Leeuwarden decided a case in which a physician had administered a deadly dose of morphine to her terminally ill mother on the mother's serious and persistent request. In this case the court concluded that the average Dutch physician no longer considered it his or her duty to prolong a patient's life under all circumstances. The court accepted that in specific cases a physician is allowed to prevent serious and irreversible suffering, even if the patient's life is short ened. This case was the first in which a legal opening for euthanasia or assisted suicide was created. In this specific case the physician was formally declared guilty, but the court gave her a suspended sentence of one week imprisonment. This decision started a debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide throughout all levels of Dutch society.

scholarly journals Aktív eutanázia vagy asszisztált öngyilkosság?

2016 ◽  
Vol 157 (40) ◽  
pp. 1595-1600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Máté Julesz
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Active Euthanasia ◽  
Data Comparison ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Method Analysis

Introduction: Both active euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and, most recently, in Canada. Aim: Examination of national legislations of countries where both active euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal. The number of accomplished active euthanasia cases and that of assisted suicide cases. Method: Analysis of national statistical data. Comparison of statistical data before and after 2010. Comparison of the related practices in the surveyed countries. Results: The number of active euthanasia cases markedly predominates over the number of assisted suicide cases. Cancer is a main reason for active euthanasia, or assisted suicide. In countries with a larger population, the number of active euthanasia cases is higher than that in countries with a smaller population. Conclusions: Regarding the fact that the applicants for active euthanasia withdraw their requests in a smaller number than the applicants for assisted suicide, patients prefer the choice of active euthanasia. Since the related legislative product is too recent in Canada at present, it may be only presumed that a certain preference will also develop in the related practices in Canada. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(40), 1595–1600.

scholarly journals Advance euthanasia directives: a controversial case and its ethical implications

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gibbes Miller ◽  
Rebecca Dresser ◽  
Scott Y H Kim
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
English Language ◽  
Criminal Investigation ◽  
Case Review ◽  
Review Committee ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
First Case ◽  
Oversight System ◽  
Care Requirements

Authorising euthanasia and assisted suicide with advance euthanasia directives (AEDs) is permitted, yet debated, in the Netherlands. We focus on a recent controversial case in which a Dutch woman with Alzheimer’s disease was euthanised based on her AED. A Dutch euthanasia review committee found that the physician performing the euthanasia failed to follow due care requirements for euthanasia and assisted suicide. This case is notable because it is the first case to trigger a criminal investigation since the 2002 Dutch euthanasia law was enacted. Thus far, only brief descriptions of the case have been reported in English language journals and media. We provide a detailed description of the case, review the main challenges of preparing and applying AEDs for persons with dementia and briefly assess the adequacy of the current oversight system governing AEDs.

Five Easy Arguments for Assisted Suicide and the Objections of Velleman and Gorsuch

Almost Over ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 208-244
Author(s):  
F. M. Kamm
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Double Effect ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Moral Permissibility ◽  
Harm To Others ◽  
David Velleman ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The U.S

This chapter presents five arguments in favor of the moral permissibility of, and even a duty to engage in, physician-assisted suicide both to end suffering and for other reasons in those who are and are not terminally ill. It considers objections to these sorts of arguments presented by David Velleman from a Kantian perspective and by Neil Gorsuch (now associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court) who argues against intentionally causing death. The chapter considers how to identify intention, the significance of it for moral and legal permissibility, and the role of the Doctrine of Double Effect in arguments about assisted suicide. It also deals with the difference between assisted suicide for the good of some enabling versus causing harm to others.

Comparative Perspectives on Euthanasia in Nigeria and Ethiopia

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony O. Nwafor
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Hippocratic Oath ◽  
Active Euthanasia ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Passive Euthanasia ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
The Right

Discussions on euthanasia usually revolve around medical, legal and moral issues geared at determining the extent to which a physician may feel obliged to accede to the request of the terminally ill patient to bring to a graceful end his or her pain and suffering by assisting the patient to die. In some jurisdictions, physicians are statutorily conceded such rights in spite of the Hippocratic Oath. But the conservatively religious would have none of such as life is seen as sacred which only the Creator could terminate at the chosen time. This paper examines various views on euthanasia, zeroing in on criminal law regimes of two countries in Africa, namely Nigeria and Ethiopia. It is discovered that while the statutes and judicial decisions in these countries (especially in Nigeria) appear favourably disposed to the idea of passive euthanasia, active euthanasia is still criminalised whatever may be the intention of the doctor, and even at the request of the patient. A strong case is made for the need for these countries to borrow a leaf from some European countries, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, which have legalised euthanasia as a mark of respect to the right of the terminally ill to choose the most honourable way of passage to the Creator while putting an end to unceasing pain and suffering associated with the ailment.

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