New law allowing assisted suicide takes effect in Austria

[Jojogu]

A law allowing assisted suicide has taken effect in Austria.

From Saturday, adults who are terminally ill or have a permanent, debilitating condition, can opt to make provisions for an assisted death.

Parliament approved the new law in December, following a constitutional court ruling on the issue.

The practice will be tightly regulated, with each case assessed by two doctors - one of whom would have to be a palliative medicine expert.

Officials say the government has also allocated funds to develop palliative care to ensure no one chooses to die when other options are available.

Assisted suicide, in which somebody is given the means to end their own life, is legal in neighbouring Switzerland.

It's also been decriminalised in several European countries, including Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Active assistance to suicide will remain outlawed in Austria, and the new rules explicitly exclude minors or those with mental health conditions.

Adults who want to end their lives must produce a diagnosis and have confirmation that they are able to make their own decisions.

After gaining approval from two doctors, patients must wait for 12 weeks to reflect on their decision - or two weeks if they have a terminal illness.

If they still want to go ahead after this waiting period, they can then get lethal drugs at a pharmacy after giving notification to a lawyer or notary.

To prevent abuse, the names of pharmacies that sell these drugs will only be disclosed to lawyers and notaries who receive these notifications, and will not be advertised publicly.

Until now, under Austrian law, anyone who induced or helped someone to kill themselves faced up to five years in prison.

An absolute ban on assisted dying was lifted by a federal court last year, which ruled that it "violated the right of self-determination".

But the same punishment will remain in place for those who kill another person at their "serious and emphatic request".

Before the new rules were approved by parliament this year, some political opponents argued that it placed too many hurdles in the way of those seeking assisted dying.

Others argued that too few restrictions were to be put in place, saying that a psychiatric evaluation was not enough to assess patients' decision-making ability.

New law allowing assisted suicide takes effect in Austria

The new law allows chronically or terminally ill adults to make provisions for an assisted suicide.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Huntfish34]

Damn,. That's pretty crazy . Thank you for sharing this with us. Happy New Year!

 

[GentleJerk]

Definitely good news, as the world slowly crawls it's way out from under the thumb of stigmatization and oppression, hopefully these changes continue.

 

[FuneralCry]

That is good to hear. It is still not legal in my country though, even for terminally ill people. The right to die is important, nobody should have to die a slow painful death. I believe we all deserve this option, we should not have to resort to suicide methods that could fail.

 

[Crazy4u]

great news! glad more countries are legalizing assisted suicide

 

[ReallyTired]

Definitely a progress!
It seems like in some countries people are more able to recognise the suffering of others' and they are able to show more compassion.
Another country, I wish I lived in is Canada.
Canada has MAID (medical assistance in dying) program, now even mentally ill people are allowed to apply.

I live in UK. No dignity in dying here.
According to statistics there are over 700 000 people in UK who suffer from some form of dementia ( Alzheimer or similar) and many will die long, painful and undignified death.
And I'm not even talking about other painful terminal illnesses.

 

[we're all alright]

Sucks with the "mental conditions" provision again. Many people with chronic and/or terminal illnesses have mental illnesses BECAUSE of their conditions and related symptoms and experiences! I understand wanting to make sure people are really ready to go, not just acting on some impulse, but not all people with "mental health problems" or whatever are in that category...

Canada has MAID (medical assistance in dying) program, now even mentally ill people are allowed to apply..

Just to clarify, I just checked out the government page on the program and you can't seek MAID based on mental illness until March 17, 2023. I think people who otherwise qualify and also have mental illnesses can currently access it now, though, assuming I understood the text correctly. I don't know if I'm allowed to link to it but it's easy to find on duckduckgo and probably any other search engine since it is the official webpage.

 

[bigfishlittlefish]

Not for anyone with mental health problems though sadly :(

 

[Wrennie]

Congrats! Austria is officially "evolved" in its treatment toward death.

As for America, it needs to get its fucking act together. Absolutely despicable the way it treats the chronically & terminally ill. Miserable excuse for a nation.

 

[Pen>Sword]

That's another win for us, my fellow advocates! Now, onto indiscriminatory pro-choice suicide legislations.

 

[Meditation guide]

When elderly people in nursing homes have to suffocate themselves with plastic bags, or hang themselves or try to starve themselves to death, to name a few of the horrors people go through to die, one would think people everywhere would wake up to the terrible suffering and say enough is enough. At least in some places such as Austria it's heartening to see that they have.

 

[EliphasBlackwood]

This is great news and I hope more countries follow. A close family friend has been dying for a fucking year now. He has terminal cancer and has been bedridden for god knows how long. He just lays there and waits for death that won't come.

 

[Death is beautiful]

Really good news, I hope this will continue, we all deserve a peaceful way out of this hell