What’s wrong with assisted dying

 Print

Thematic : End of life / Euthanasia and assisted suicide

Studies

Published on : 14/07/2012

Author / Source : Iona Heath

Campaigns in support of assisted dying seem to be predicated on an excessively rosy view of society and the individuals within it, says Iona Heath, writing in a personal capacity.
Support for assisted dying is based on respect for individual autonomy, yet the influence that one person can have on another makes legislation to permit assisted dying intrinsically risky.

The author is the president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, UK.

  • euthanasia
  • assisted dying
  • suicide assisté
  • aide médicale au suicide
  • contre euthanasie
  • handicap
  • dérives euthanasie

Download the PDF file

Similar articles

Belgian Euthanasia Increases by 89% in four years.

- Euthanasia and assisted suicide

Belgian Euthanasia Increases by 89% in four years.

The Act of 28 May 2002 concerning euthanasia stipulates that the Federal Committee on Oversight and Enforcement, shall biennially report to the legislature. Here is the sixth report, covering the years 2012-2013.

The report comprises firstly a statistical element, which we note here that the number of reported euthanasia has almost doubled in four years (an increase of 89%), from 953 reported in 2010 to 1,807 in 2013 euthanasia. The ...

Read more

Belgium : a further extension of euthanasia

- Euthanasia and assisted suicide

Based on texts which have already been submitted during the previous legislature, three further proposals (put forward by Mme Karin Jiroflée et al, sp.A), seeking to modify the law of May 28, 2002 on euthanasia, have just recently been laid before the Chamber of Belgian Deputies, without any specific deadline for their adoption having for the moment been defined.

The first proposal (Doc 54 1013/001) aims to authorize the act of euthanasia for patients who are unable to express their wishes ...

Read more

Euthanasia by Confusion

- Euthanasia and assisted suicide

Professor in the Faculty of Medicine
Founding Director of the Faculty of Law's Centre for Medicine,
Ethics and Law at McGill University

Which terms are used?

Is the euthanasia debate best by confusion?

 

"Euthanasia by Confusion" (1997) 20:3  University of New South Wales Law Journal  550-575; abbreviated version also published in Policy Options, 1997, 18(10):21-24; in The Advocate, 1998, 56 (6): 875-884; in Review Catholic Health Association of Canada, 1998; 26(1):3-10

Read more