Countries that allow passive euthanasia

NETHERLANDS

Euthanasia in the Netherlands is regulated by the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act, 2002. It legalises euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in very specific cases, and very specific circumstances including the patient’s will and suffering, a second opinion, and the absence of alternatives.

BELGIUM

Belgium legalised euthanasia in September 2002. The Belgian law sets out conditions under which suicide can be practised without giving doctors a licence to kill. Patients wishing to end their lives must be conscious when they make the demand and repeat their request for euthanasia. They have to be under “constant and unbearable physical or psychological pain” resulting from an accident or incurable illness.

ITALY

Italian lawmakers passed a law last year allowing adults to decide, in consultation with their doctors, their end-of-life medical care, including the terms under which they can refuse treatment. The law permits Italians to write living wills and refuse medical treatment, artificial nutrition, and hydration.

UNITED STATES

Active euthanasia is illegal in all US states, but physician-assisted dying is legal in Oregon, Washington, and Montana. The difference between the two lies in who administers the lethal medication.

SWITZERLAND

Allows assisted suicide as long as the motive isn’t profit.