Euthanasia in Europe

Portugal’s parliament will hold its fourth vote in three years Friday on a law decriminalising euthanasia that has divided the deeply Catholic country.

The bill would bring Portugal in line with several other European countries that have adopted laws allowing the terminally ill to receive help to end their lives.

Here is a round-up of the situation in other European countries:

– Euthanasia: Dutch first –

In April 2002, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise active euthanasia, whereby doctors administer lethal doses of drugs to patients suffering from an incurable condition.

It also legalised assisted suicide, where patients can receive help to voluntarily take their own life.

The Dutch law said the patient must have “unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement” and must have requested to die in a way that is “voluntary, well considered and with full conviction”. 

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In 2012, the Netherlands expanded the law to authorise euthanasia for over-12s in great suffering, provided they have parental consent, and in 2020 to patients with severe dementia, if the patient had requested the procedure while still mentally competent. 

The Dutch government in April 2023 also approved euthanasia for children under 12 after years of debate, permitting mercy deaths for young minors suffering “unbearably and without hope”. 

Last year, around 8,700 people in the Netherlands opted for euthanasia, according to official figures. Most suffered from terminal cancer.

– Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain follow –

Belgium was the second country to adopt euthanasia and assisted suicide in May 2002, and with similar caveats to the Dutch.

In 2014 it went further than the Netherlands by allowing terminally ill children of all ages to also request the procedure, with the consent of their parents.

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Fellow Benelux country Luxembourg decriminalised euthanasia and assisted dying in 2009, followed by Spain in June 2021, which legalised both practices.

– Assisted dying: final destination Switzerland –

Switzerland, which prohibits euthanasia, has for decades allowed assisted suicide, making it the go-to destination for patients from around Europe looking for assistance to end their suffering.

The growth of so-called “suicide tourism” has caused much soul-searching in Switzerland but the authorities decided in 2011 against restricting the practice.

Neighbouring Austria, a staunchly Catholic nation, also legalised assisted suicide in 2022 after its constitutional court ruled the country was violating citizens’ fundamental rights in making it illegal.

ALSO READ: Portuguese MPs take first step to decriminalising euthanasia

Italy’s constitutional court by contrast rejected a bid to hold a referendum on decriminalising assisted dying, judging that such a vote would fail to protect the weakest.

But the court ruled that it should not always be punishable to help someone with “intolerable” physical or psychological suffering to commit suicide.

The issue is also the subject of intense public interest in Britain, where a parliamentary inquiry is looking into whether assisted dying should be legalised.