Assisted suicide

Assisted suicide is when a person helps another person to die by suicide.

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).

Assisted suicide is sometimes called euthanasia. However, euthanasia is generally regarded as different to assisted suicide, because it involves causing a person to die rather than helping them to kill themselves.

Laws

Laws about assisted suicide vary 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

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in some countries under certain circumstances. These countries include Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland, plus 10 states of the United States and all six states of Australia. Some people who are very ill and want to die may go to these countries, such as Switzerland, in order to end their life.

In these countries, there are generally requirements that a person has to meet before getting physician-assisted suicide legal. Usually the person has to show that they are of sound mind - that they are able to make decisions and don't want to kill themselves because of a mental illness. They also have to voluntarily and repeatedly express their wish to die. Finally, they have to take the specified, lethal medication by their own hand.

In 2024, several other countries were thinking about making physician-assisted suicide legal. These countries include Jersey and the Isle of Man; this puts pressure on the United Kingdom to legalize physician-assisted suicide too.

Related pages

• Assisted dying
• Death with dignity
• Right to die
• Euthanasia
• Dignitas (euthanasia group)
• Jack Kevorkian