OBJECT: Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person's life to relieve suffering.

For example, a doctor who gives a patient who has terminal cancer an overdose of muscle relaxants to end their life would be considered to have carried out euthanasia.

Assisted suicide is the act of deliberately assisting or encouraging another person who commits, or attempts to commit, suicide. 

If a relative of a person with a terminal illness were to obtain powerful sedatives, knowing that the person intended to take an overdose of sedatives to kill themselves, they would be assisting suicide.

Legal position

Both euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal under English law.

Depending on the circumstances, euthanasia is regarded as either manslaughter or murder and is punishable by law with a maximum penalty of up to life imprisonment. 

Assisted suicide is illegal under the terms of the Suicide Act (1961) and is punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment. Attempting to commit suicide is not a criminal act in itself. 

Types of euthanasia

Euthanasia can be classified in different ways, including:

•   active euthanasia – where a person deliberately intervenes to end someone’s life, for example, by injecting them with sedatives  

•   passive euthanasia – where a person causes death by withholding or withdrawing treatment that is necessary to maintain life, such as withholding antibiotics in someone with pneumonia  

Euthanasia can also be classified as:

•   voluntary euthanasia – where a person makes a conscious decision to die and asks for help to do this

•   non-voluntary euthanasia – where a person is unable to give their consent (for example, because they are in a coma or are severely brain damaged) and another person takes the decision on their behalf, often because the ill person previously expressed a wish for their life to be ended in such circumstances

•   involuntary euthanasia – where a person is killed against their expressed wishes

Depending on the circumstances, voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia could be regarded as either voluntary manslaughter (where someone kills another person but circumstances can partly justify their actions) or murder. 

Involuntary euthanasia is almost always regarded as murder.

There are arguments used by both supporters and opponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Alternatives

There are alternative approaches and options for people with terminal conditions or those experiencing intolerable suffering.

For example, under English law, all adults have the right to refuse medical treatment, as long as they have sufficient capacity (the ability to use and understand information to make a decision).

If you know that your capacity to consent may be affected in the future you can arrange a legally binding advance decision (previously known as an advance directive).

An advance decision sets out the procedures and treatments that you consent to and those that you do not consent to. This means that the healthcare professionals treating you cannot perform certain procedures or treatments against your wishes.

Other countries

Active euthanasia is currently only legal in Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Under the laws in these countries, a person’s life may be deliberately ended by their doctor or other healthcare professional. 

The person is usually given an overdose of muscle relaxants or sedatives. This causes a coma and then death.

However, euthanasia is only legal:

•   if that person has made an active and voluntary request to end their life, and

•   it is thought they have sufficient mental capacity to make an informed decision regarding their care, and

•   it is agreed that the person is suffering unbearably and there is no prospect for an improvement in their condition

Capacity is the ability to use and understand information to make a decision. Read more about the capacity to consent to treatment.

In some countries the law is less clear, and some forms of assisted suicide and passive euthanasia are legal but active euthanasia is illegal.

For example, some types of assisted suicide and passive euthanasia are legal in Switzerland, Germany, Mexico and the American state of Oregon.