Euthanasia, active and assisted suicide

Euthanasia and assisted suicide laws around the world

 

Recently I read a blog; the title was “who would be holding your hand?”  The blog is about this man’s girlfriend or friend, not too sure because he is vague and has made me confused as he mentions contacting an ex-girlfriend as he was missing that “someone”.  The smallest of intimacies, and yet to me the biggest, like holding hands.  Also this woman made him promise that he would not look for his soul mate and she would send him someone.

 

The woman was diagnosed as terminally ill, and was in extreme pain.  She made the decision to end her life.  The writer of the blog was there for her and they held hands.  This gave him a wonderful feeling.

 

Not surprising as touch is so very important.  Without touch a baby fails to thrive.  Even in the animal kingdom, touch from a mother helps development.  Not just emotional development but physical development.

 

I have only admiration for the writer and the woman that choice to end her life.  The courage for both of them must have been so extreme.

 

The question is who would be holding your hand when you are dying lead me to a lot of thinking.  To be frank I don’t want anybody to be at my death bed.  I don’t want to burden the people I love.  I don’t want the last memory of me to be on my death bed.

 

Some years ago my father was dying of cancer.  In South Africa there is no such thing as being able to be assisted or giving euthanasia to end one’s life.  My father was in terrible pain and the doctors had literally washed their hands.  He was dying and they could not do anything more, despite my sister’s pleading.  They turned my father and my sister away from the doctor’s office.

 

This is a wonderful organization in South Africa.  They come to the home and they administer drugs and give counseling not only to the dying but the living to. They are Hospice.

 

Hospice Care.

Hospices deliver palliative care in three main ways:

• Hospice Home based care - mobile teams of professionally supervised trained community caregivers travel to people's homes and support and teach families to provide care at home. This is the primary means of service delivery for patients who are home-bound. Not only is this cost effective, but it also allows the patient to be at home where they often prefer to be.
• Hospice Community centres - many hospices work from established bases within the community. At these bases they will meet with groups of people who have palliative care needs. The type of patient who would attend these meetings is still reasonably well and mobile. Doctors, nurses, social workers and other professionals will attend the centres regularly to assist those with individual needs. These centres provide excellent forums for those facing life-limiting illness to connect meaningfully with others in support groups. At many such centres, a variety of skills are also taught and income generating projects initiated.
• Hospice In patient units - some hospices have in-patient units. This is a facility that provides 24 hour palliative care. Usually these units have a small number of beds and have specific criteria for admission. A patient who has pain that is difficult to control at home, or a patient whose family need respite, or a patient who has absolutely no support systems at home, are some of those who may be admitted at such an in-patient unit.
  My father was very proud and there were so many things he could not do anymore.  The last thing I wanted to do was embarrass him and see him this way.  I know this of all things hurt him more than just dying.  I don’t have the last recollection of him in a death bed.  I remember my father as the wonderful, strong, stubborn and very caring person that he was.  He never went passed a person that needed help, without helping in some way or another.  Of cause there were also the negative side to him.  He had an awful temper but the bad comes always with the good.
  He could do anything he set his heart in doing, even if it took him hours, days, months and even years.  It was a challenge never to let slip pass.  This is has passed on to me and I am so glad he did.  Nothing is impossible and you heard the saying, “where there is a will there is a way”.
  Countries around the world and how they regard assisted suicide, active suicide and euthanasia.
  Netherlands
  They were the first country to introduce assisted suicide and euthanasia in April 2002.  Though, the following conditions must apply.  The patient must be suffering unbearable pain, their illness must be incurable, and the demand must be made in "full consciousness" by the patient.
   
  France
  Assisted suicide and euthanasia is illegal in France.  In 2005 the Léonetti law introduced the concept of the right to be "left to die". Under strict conditions it allowed doctors to decide to "limit or stop any treatment that is not useful, is disproportionate or has no other object than to artificially prolong life" and to use pain-killing drugs that might "as a side effect, shorten life".
   
  United States
  Euthanasia is illegal but doctors are allowed to prescribe lethal doses of medicine to terminally ill patients in five US states.  Oregon was the first US state to legalize assisted suicide. The law took effect in 1997, and allows for terminally ill, mentally competent patients with less than six months to live to request a prescription for life-ending medication. More than a decade later, Washington State approved a measure that was modelled on Oregon's law. And last year, the Vermont legislature passed a similar law. Court decisions rendered the practice legal in Montana and, most recently, in New Mexico.
   
  Germany and Switzerland
  In German-speaking countries, the term "euthanasia" is generally avoided because of its association with the eugenicist policies of the Nazi era. The law therefore tends to distinguish between assisted suicide (beihilfe zum suizid) and "active assisted suicide" (aktive sterbehilfe).
  In Germany and Switzerland, active assisted suicide – i.e. a doctor prescribing and handing over a lethal drug – is illegal. But German and Swiss law does allow assisted suicide within certain circumstances. In Germany, assisted suicide is legal as long as the lethal drug is taken without any help, such as someone guiding or supporting the patient's hand. In Switzerland, the law is more relaxed: it allows assisted suicide as long as there are no "self-seeking motives" involved.  Switzerland has tolerated the creation of organizations such as Dignitas and Exit, which provide assisted dying services for a fee.
   

Belgium

Belgium passed a law in 2002 legalizing euthanasia, becoming the second country in the world to do so. The law says doctors can help patients to end their lives when they freely express a wish to die because they are suffering intractable and unbearable pain. Patients can also receive euthanasia if they have clearly stated it before entering a coma or similar vegetative state.

Assisted suicide is not mentioned in the law, which does not specify a method of euthanasia. As Jacqueline Herriman’s, president of the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity, says:  "We don't make a distinction in the semantics." However, the physician has to be present at the bedside of the patient to their last breath, unlike the Oregon model where the doctor gives only the prescription of drugs.

This February, Belgium became the first country to legalize euthanasia for children. There is no age limit for minors seeking a lethal injection, but they must be conscious of their decision, terminally ill, close to death and suffering beyond any medical help. They also need the assent of their parents to end their lives. So far, no such cases have yet been reported to authorities.

Canada

The law in Canada is almost the same as in England -- it is a crime to assist a suicide, punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment

 

Denmark

Denmark has no laws permitting assisted suicide, despite reports that it does.

 

Finland

Finland has nothing in its criminal code about assisted suicide. Sometimes an assister will inform the law enforcement authorities of him or herself of having aided someone in dying, and provided the action was justified, nothing more happens. Mostly it takes place among friends, who act discreetly. If Finnish doctors were known to practice assisted suicide or euthanasia, the situation might change, although there is no case history.

 

Italy

In Italy the action is legally forbidden.

 

Japan

Japan has medical voluntary euthanasia approved by a high court in 1962 in the Yamagouchi case, but instances are extremely rare, seemingly because of complicated taboos on suicide, dying and death in that country.

 

New Zealand

New Zealand forbids assistance under 179 of the New Zealand Crimes Act, 1961, but cases are rare and the penalties lenient.

 

United Kingdom

In England and Wales there is a possibility of up to 14 years imprisonment for anybody assisting a suicide? Oddly, suicide itself is not a crime. The first prosecutorial policy statement about who will, or will not, risk criminal charges when assisting a suicide, was announced by England & Wales in 2010. Like France, there are laws banning a publication if it leads to a suicide or assisted suicide. But 'Final Exit' can be seen in bookstores in both countries.

 

Australia

The Northern Territory of Australia had voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide for nine months until the Federal Parliament repealed the law in 1997. Only four people were able to use it. Other states have attempted to change the law, so far unsuccessfully.

 

 

Colombia

Colombia's Constitutional Court in 1997 approved medical voluntary euthanasia but its parliament has never ratified it. Nowadays doctors there frequently do -- discreetly -- help suffering terminal people to die at their request.

 

Uruguay

In Uruguay it seems a person must appear in court, yet Article 27 of the Penal Code (effective 1934) says: "The judges are authorized to forego punishment of a person whose previous life has been honourable where he commits a homicide motivated by compassion, induced by repeated requests of the victim." As far as is known, there have been no judicial sentences for mercy killing in Uruguay.

 

Norway

Neighbouring Norway has criminal sanctions against assisted suicide by using the charge "accessory to murder". In cases where consent was given and the reasons compassionate, the courts pass lighter sentences. A recent law commission voted down de-criminalizing assisted suicide by a 5-2 vote.

 

Switzerland is the only country in the world that allows foreigners to do assisted suicide and euthanasia but active suicide is illegal, whereby these drugs are given over the counter.   

 

You suffered so much, the pain was so unbearable

Yet it was you that was the strong one that kept the family together

You smiled and you laughed and you had time for others

You believed in me like nobody else did

You are gone now and your family are struggling

They need to find a way to come back to each other

But

For me………..

I carry you in my heart forever

For in my heart you live for always

The memories ……………..