Assisted suicide

Ecuador decriminalized euthanasia on Wednesday, becoming the second Latin American country to allow the procedure, in response to a lawsuit brought by a terminally ill patient.

With seven of its nine judges voting in favor, the country's Constitutional Court opened the door for doctors to help an untreatable patient die without going to jail.

Silver Thread, an association campaigning for dignified old age, has collected the required 5,000 signatures to submit a bill on assisted suicide to the National Assembly well before the deadline.

In its announcement on 5 June, the association said it expected the considerable support for the bill to send a clear message to decision-makers in the National Assembly.

Following years of calls and campaigning to allow terminally-ill people to end their suffering in a dignified way, an NGO has now been given 60 days to collect 5,000 signatures from voters to be able to table a bill legalising assisted suicide.

In the past two years, Spain, Austria, and New Zealand have made euthanasia and assisted suicide legal

Lawmakers in Spain have voted to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide, making it only the fifth country globally to make the practice legal after the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Canada.

The law will come into force in three months' time after the landmark vote passed in the lower house of the Spanish parliament by 202 votes to 141, with two abstentions.

The authorities in New Zealand have voted to legitimize euthanasia, paving the way for the issue to be brought to a referendum by next year, BGNES reported.

The law allowing terminally ill people to claim medically assisted death was passed by 69 to 51 votes in its last reading ending years of heated parliamentary debate on the topic.

A Turkish woman who lost all of her teeth in a botched cosmetic operation has told journalists that she is considering going to Belgium or Holland to end her life with an assisted suicide. 

The Public Prosecution Service in The Hague has opened an inquiry into the possible ‘assisted suicide’ of Slobodan Praljak, who died after saying he had taken poison in court during his verdict.

Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis on Friday refuted suggestions that the government may be considering the legalization of assisted suicide, saying that any such action will continue to be viewed as consensual homicide, a felony that carries jail time.

Justice minister Stavros Kondonis’ answer to a parliamentary question by an opposition MP seven months ago, has opened up the question whether the Syriza-led government is considering introducing a bill about assisted suicide.

The question, posed to the minister by To Potami Giorgos Amyras on March 20, received a belated answer today by Kondonis.