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In Belgium, euthanasia for mental illness is legal if the patient is mentally competent to make the decision; the patient requests euthanasia on two separate occasions in writing; the patient is suffering from an incurable disease or mental illness, and all treatment options have been exhausted; and the patient is experiencing "unbearable suffering" from the illness, either physically or ...
The Dutch law, however, does not use the term 'euthanasia' but includes the concept under the broader definition of "assisted suicide and termination of life on request". [ 5 ] Euthanasia is categorised in different ways, which include voluntary , non-voluntary , and involuntary . [ 6 ]
As applied to the euthanasia debate, the slippery slope argument claims that the acceptance of certain practices, such as physician-assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia, will invariably lead to the acceptance or practice of concepts which are currently deemed unacceptable, such as non-voluntary or involuntary euthanasia.
Voluntary euthanasia is the purposeful ending of another person's life at their request, in order to relieve them of suffering.Voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been the focus of intense debate in the 21st century, surrounding the idea of a right to die.
Euthanasia efforts were revived during the 1960s and 1970s, under the right-to-die rubric, physician assisted death in liberal bioethics, and through advance directives and do not resuscitate orders. Several major court cases advanced the legal rights of patients, or their guardians, to withdraw medical support with the expected outcome of death.
Under Dutch law, euthanasia and assisted suicide can only be performed by doctors, and that is only legal in cases of "hopeless and unbearable" suffering. In practice, this means that it is limited to those with serious and incurable medical conditions (including mental illness ) and in considerable suffering like pain, hypoxia or exhaustion.
Americans’ views on euthanasia have remained largely unchanged over the last decade, with most people believing doctors should legally be allowed to end a patient’s life, a new Gallup poll shows.
The difficulty with the issue of non-treatment lies in the borderline with euthanasia, which is punishable by law in most countries. Euthanasia designates a practice (action or omission) whose aim is to intentionally bring about the death of a person, in principle suffering from an incurable disease which inflicts intolerable suffering, particularly by a doctor or under his or her control.