A law allowing euthanasia for terminally ill patients who express a desire to end their lives has gone into effect in Austria. The country’s parliament legalized euthanasia in December after the Austrian Constitutional Court ruled that a complete ban on such a procedure “violates people’s right to self-determination.”
The right to appeal to the authorities for assistance in suicide shall be granted to terminally ill persons, as well as to persons suffering from diseases that cause irreparable and serious harm to health. The euthanasia process is strictly regulated. Each case is reviewed independently by two doctors, one of whom must be a specialist in palliative care (a branch of medicine that deals with patients whose illnesses are incurable).
People who want to end their lives must provide a diagnosis and prove that they are capable of making independent decisions. After receiving approval from two doctors, patients must wait 12 weeks (or two weeks in the case of life-threatening illnesses) to reconsider their decision. After this period, if they still want to proceed with their plan, they make an official declaration to their lawyers or notaries, after which they can make a purchase in special pharmacies. In order to prevent any possible abuse, the names of these pharmacies will be known only to these lawyers and notaries, and the list of these establishments will not be disclosed.
Until now, anyone who assisted a suicide in Austria faced up to five years in prison. However, this penalty still applies to people who commit murder at the insistence of the victim. Active assistance in suicide is also prohibited. We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what happens next. Episodes The end of the story: Promotional Podcasts.
In addition, new laws directly prohibit the use of the procedure on minors and the mentally ill. The Austrian authorities intend to allocate additional funds for the development of palliative medicine in order to avoid a situation where terminally ill people have no choice but to commit suicide. Before the legalization of euthanasia, some Austrian politicians claimed that the new law created too many obstacles for those who wanted to end their lives. Others, on the other hand, believe that the adopted law is too lenient and insist that a single examination by a psychiatrist is not sufficient to assess a person’s capacity.
Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, which borders Austria. It is also decriminalized in several European countries, including Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. The euthanasia law was also debated in the French parliament, but its adoption was delayed after the opposition proposed some three thousand amendments.
Note. On January 11, 2022 an amendment was made to the article: the procedure for various forms of euthanasia in European countries was clarified.