Euthanasia has been legalized in much of the English-speaking world over the past decade and is now widely practiced in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with Britain and Ireland under pressure to change their laws to allow the practice or allow assisted suicide. A 2015 article in the New England Journal of Medicine on euthanasia rates in the Belgian Flemish region (the northern half of the country) noted: Agnes van der Heide, professor of decision-making and end-of-life care at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, says the reason euthanasia is more common than assisted suicide in the Netherlands is diverse. Doctors may think that by performing the procedure themselves, they have more control over the dosage and time the procedure takes. Zylicz, a palliative care physician who has worked extensively in the Netherlands with people requesting euthanasia and PAS, provides a taxonomy to understand the reasons for requests and provides springboards to respond to requests. Applications can be divided into five categories (summarized by the abbreviation abcde) 54: Van der Heide said that although she could not comment on Pothoven`s case, it was possible for minors over the age of 12 to request euthanasia or assisted suicide in the Netherlands under certain conditions. In a statement on Anscombe`s website, Jones said: “I am sincerely concerned that the legalisation of euthanasia or assisted suicide may have a negative impact on a person struggling to find their life precious and meaningful. Assisted suicide is more common than euthanasia. Places where people can end their lives in this way include Switzerland and a number of U.S. states, including California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington State, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. Laws allowing assisted suicide came into force last month in the Australian state of Victoria. While the social and political debate over euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide remains fierce and fierce, euthanasia legislation in Europe, America and Australia has grown considerably over the past 20 years (42). Euthanasia and/or physician-assisted suicide practices are now legal in 18 countries (Western Australia will come into force in 2021), bringing the number of people with access to euthanasia to over 200 million (3).
There are significant differences in terminology and frequency of use between legal systems and in substantive and procedural requirements. Many countries are currently grappling with end-of-life care issues, and new euthanasia laws have been proposed in various jurisdictions in Europe and the United States. As access to euthanasia increases, the need for additional research on the impact on patients, physicians, health systems and communities becomes increasingly relevant and urgent, as does careful monitoring of compliance with substantive and procedural safeguards. The ongoing study on the impact of new and expanded euthanasia rules on members of vulnerable groups, such as psychiatric disorders and minors, will be of particular importance (36, 40). Given global demographic, cultural and societal trends leading to a growing debate on autonomy and self-determination at the end of life, euthanasia will continue to grow as a critical public health issue. The Oxford-based Anscombe Centre for Bioethics, which serves the Catholic Church in Britain and Ireland, has also found that women are more likely to commit suicide in jurisdictions that have allowed euthanasia and assisted suicide. The ethics and legality of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (AMP) remain controversial. In the early 20th century, several attempts at legalization were thwarted. Recently, several countries have legalized these practices, and a number of countries are considering legalizing.
Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, Ph.D., of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues examined the legal status of euthanasia and SAP and comprehensively reviewed all available data on attitudes and practices. Many people use the terms “euthanasia,” “assisted suicide,” and “euthanasia” interchangeably. But technically, these phrases can have different meanings. “One of the dilemmas we have in these ongoing debates is how people use different expressions,” Huxtable says.