Several European countries allow assisted dying under different rules

As France looked set to adopt a bill allowing assisted dying on Wednesday, several European countries already permit some terminally ill people to end their lives, under different legal systems and conditions.

The source distinguishes euthanasia, in which a caregiver induces a patient's death at the patient's request, from assisted dying, in which someone helps a patient end their own life.

The Netherlands legalised euthanasia under strict regulation in April 2002. A doctor and an independent expert must decide that the patient is suffering unbearably and has no hope of improvement. In 2023, the right was extended to children under 12.

Belgium adopted euthanasia later in 2002 with conditions similar to those in the Netherlands. In 2014, it became the first country in the world to allow terminally ill children of all ages to request euthanasia. Luxembourg decriminalised euthanasia and assisted dying in 2009.

Switzerland prohibits euthanasia but has allowed assisted dying since World War II. Its criminal code bans inciting or helping suicide only when it is done for selfish motives. Medical ethics codes apply, and associations help patients to die. The source says many Europeans travel to Switzerland to be helped to die. Austria's parliament voted in 2021 to legalise assisted dying for people with a serious or terminal illness.

Spain adopted a law in 2021 allowing euthanasia and medically assisted dying. Applicants must be capable and conscious, make the request in writing, confirm it later, and receive approval from an evaluation committee.

Slovenia's parliament legalised assisted dying in July last year for lucid, terminally ill patients whose suffering was unbearable and whose treatment options had been exhausted. Voters later suspended the law in a November referendum. Portugal adopted decriminalisation of euthanasia in 2023, but its Constitutional Court decided last year that it should not come into force.

In Italy, the Constitutional Court in 2019 set out conditions under which a patient could access assisted dying without the person helping them facing criminal charges. The source says the system remains difficult to apply because parliament has not adopted the necessary legislation. A pro-euthanasia association pushed for regional rules, and Tuscany became the first region last year to speed up and simplify the procedure. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition challenged Tuscany's regulation.

In Britain, lawmakers are due to debate assisted dying again in September. Members of the House of Commons voted last year to allow adults with incurable illness to take substances causing their death in England and Wales, but the unelected upper house blocked the bill. Lawmakers in Jersey and the Isle of Man have approved euthanasia legislation, but those measures still await royal assent. In March, lawmakers in the devolved Scottish parliament rejected a bill to legalise assisted dying.