Assisted suicide

Assisted suicide is when somebody who wants to commit suicide (wants to die) is helped to do this by someone else. Normally, people who ask for assisted suicide are very ill and in a lot of pain, so they want someone to help them to die, for example by being given access to drugs which will kill them. Some people prefer the terms aid in dying or death with dignity to describe assisted suicide. The term euthanasia is sometimes used, although euthanasia is generally regarded as different to assisted suicide, as it involves causing a person to die rather than helping them to kill themselves.

The law about this varies a lot in different countries. In many countries it is not allowed, and the person who helps someone to die may be arrested and sent to prison. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in some countries, under certain circumstances, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, 10 states of the United States and all six states of Australia. In general to make it legal the person who wants to die has to show that they are of sound mind, voluntarily and repeatedly expressing their wish to die, and take the specified, lethal dose by their own hand. In 2024 several other countries are talking about making this legal. Jersey and the Isle of Man considering this puts pressure on the United Kingdom to do the same.

Some people who are very ill and want to die may go to these countries, such as Switzerland, in order to end their life.

Related pages

• Dignitas (euthanasia group)
• Right to die