Where assisted suicide is legal in Europe after landmark German ruling

Germany’s Constitutional Court has ruled that a ban on commercial assisted suicide services was unconstitutional, saying in a landmark decision that people have “the right to a self-determined death”. The ruling was a major victory for the terminally ill patients, doctors and assisted suicide organisations who brought the case, complaining that the existing law went too far. The plaintiffs wanted to overturn a law that has since 2015 outlawed assisted suicide undertaken by organisations or doctors who accepted a fee for their help. Judge Andreas Vosskuhle at the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said the right to a self-determined death included “the freedom to take one’s life and seek help doing so”. Lawmakers must now draw up new rules to reflect the decision. Euthanasia is particularly sensitive in Germany due to the legacy of the Holocaust, when Nazis killed and carried out inhumane experiments on Jews. French coma patient dies after bitter family fight over life support Because of the existing German law, some people seek euthanasia via relatives or go abroad. Assisted dying is a highly controversial issue in most countries, and so far only four nations – Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg – have legalised the practice in Europe. Belgium has allowed euthanasia under strict conditions since 2002, which include the provision that the procedure must be administered by a doctor. In 2014, the country became the first to drop all age restrictions on euthanasia in cases of incurable illness and severe suffering, and at a patient’s request. The first such procedure on a minor was carried out in 2016. It requires the parents’ approval and a psychological evaluation of the patient’s mental state. In Switzerland, where active euthanasia is prohibited, assisted suicide is legal when the assistant doesn’t act out of “selfish” motives, according to Article 115 of the Swiss Penal Code. Swiss commercial services such as Dignitas also receive patients from other countries where assisted suicide is currently illegal. In Slovenia, a retired teacher suffering an incurable debilitating disease heated up the euthanasia debate with her decision to go to Switzerland and die – at a cost of €10,000 (US$10,800). Dutch doctor acquitted in landmark euthanasia case She says she wants to draw attention to the plight she is enduring before she makes the decision to go. “When I decide my time to say goodbye, a doctor in Switzerland will prescribe me a cocktail of medicines that will put me to sleep. No one will help me, I have to drink it myself,” she told broadcaster RTVSlo last month. In the Netherlands, euthanasia and assisted dying are legal under certain criteria and must be carried out by a doctor. In other countries like Russia, however, assisted suicide is completely illegal. Disseminating information about how to commit suicide is also prohibited, if that information is deemed as somehow promoting the act. Websites containing such information are routinely blocked by the Russian government. Assisted dying also remains illegal in Britain but the law has been challenged in several cases in recent years, amid growing public support for a change. An annual survey conducted by the Royal College of General Practitioners published last week, however, suggested 40 per cent of British doctors support changing the law to allow assisted dying, while 47 per cent still oppose it. The ‘suicide pod’ that lets users kill themselves with the press of a button Finland and Sweden allow so-called passive euthanasia, if a patient is in a coma or has an incurable condition. They are offered relief against pain but do not receive life-supporting treatment. The decision is taken by a doctor together with the patient or patient’s family. In recent years, there have been calls by lawmakers and groups in the Nordic countries to allow assisted dying. In Bulgaria, parliament ejected a draft allowing euthanasia in 2011. There have been no other attempts to pass the legislation there since. Outside Europe, Canada, some US states and the Australian state Victoria have legalised assisted suicide to some extent, mostly for terminally ill patients. In Colombia, euthanasia has been legal since 2015 for terminally ill patients, according to The World Federation of Right to Die Societies. DPA, Agence France-Presse and Reuters