Factbox-The legal status of assisted dying in different countries

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LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is to debate whether to legalise assisted dying for the terminally ill, potentially paving the way for the law to change. Below is a list of countries which allow people to choose to end their lives or are considering doing so. 

SWITZERLAND

Switzerland legalised assisted dying in 1942 on the condition the motive is not selfish, making it the first country in the world to permit the practice. Doctors can prescribe drugs and administer them or had them over for self-administration. A number of Swiss organisations such as Dignitas offer their services to foreign nationals.  

UNITED STATES

Medical aid in dying, also known as physician assisted dying is legal in 10 states: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, plus the District of Columbia. Oregon was the first state to legalise it under a law which came into effect in 1997. It allows mentally competent patients who are terminally ill and with less than six months to live to ask for life-ending medication. People from outside Oregon may travel to the state to take advantage of the law. 

NETHERLANDS

The “Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act” came into effect in 2002. A doctor is immune from punishment for euthanasia and assisted suicide where patients are experiencing “unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement”. Minors can request euthanasia from the age of 12 but require parental permission before the age of 16. 

BELGIUM

Belgium legalised medically assisted dying in 2002 for the terminally ill and for people experiencing unbearable suffering, which includes patients with psychiatric conditions. Since 2014, those under the age of 18 who are terminally ill are covered by the law as long as they have parental permission. 

CANADA

Canada introduced “Medical Assistance in Dying” in 2016 for those whose death was deemed to be “reasonably foreseeable”. Five years later, the law was extended to permit people with a “grievous and irremediable” medical condition to request assisted dying. The country has delayed until 2027 a plan to extend medical assistance in dying to include those with a mental illness. 

AUSTRALIA

Voluntary assisted dying for the terminally ill or those with a condition that is causing intolerable suffering is legal in most Australian states, after being introduced first in Victoria in 2019. Doctors can prescribe medication for self-administration or administer them where required. 

SPAIN 

Spain approved a law in 2021 which allows euthanasia and medically assisted suicide for people with incurable or debilitating diseases who want to end their life. 

GERMANY

Assisted dying had been legal in Germany until 2015 when the country outlawed its provision on an organised or commercial basis, effectively banning it in many cases. Five years later the country’s top court ruled in favour of groups providing terminally ill adults with assisted suicide services, but lawmakers are yet to finalise new rules. 

FRANCE

Doctors in France have since 2016 been allowed to put a person who is close to death and in great pain into deep sedation, but not to administer life-ending medication. President Emmanuel Macron earlier this year backed new legislation which would allow assisted dying for those with incurable conditions and a bill was introduced in April, but elections in June and July interrupted the proposed law’s progress. 

BRITAIN 

A bill to allow terminally ill adults with six months or less left to live the right to end their lives was introduced to parliament earlier in October and will be debated on Nov. 29.

IRELAND

A cross-party Irish parliamentary committee recommended this year that the government should legalise assisted dying in certain restricted circumstances. 

A majority of lawmakers in October voted in favour of “noting” the committee’s findings. With a national election due on Nov. 29, it will be up to the next government to decide whether to consider proposing a new law.