Euthanasia generally involves a health practitioner administering a lethal dose to intentionally end a person’s life, usually in the form of a lethal injection.
Euthanasia is different from assisted suicide, in that assisted suicide involves the person ending their own life administering a lethal dose themselves, whereas euthanasia usually involves a health practitioner administering a lethal dose.
Assisted suicide is legal in a handful of jurisdictions globally including Holland, Belgium, Canada, Colombia and Luxembourg.
Right To Life UK campaigns against any attempt to legalise such euthanasia, and for the development of palliative care services and end of life care that remove any perceived need for euthanasia.
United Nations Human Rights Council criticises Belgium’s euthanasia law
Belgium has been criticised for its radical euthanasia law during a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in Geneva, Switzerland. The UNHCR is undergoing a “Universal Periodic Review”, in which member states' human rights records are scrutinised...
Academic and disability rights activist Dr Miro Griffiths speaks out against assisted suicide
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dying Well recently held a parliamentary event in which leading disability rights campaigners spoke powerfully against Baroness Meacher’s assisted suicide bill. The cross-party parliamentary group was formed earlier this...
President of Portugal vetoes euthanasia Bill
The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has vetoed a bill that would legalise euthanasia, arguing that the bill is possibly too radical. On 5 November, lawmakers in Portugal voted 138-84 to introduce euthanasia into the country but the President said the...
Bioethicists propose implant that would automatically trigger a euthanasia drug at the onset of dementia
A recent article published by leading bioethics journal “The Hastings Center Report”, has proposed an implant that would automatically trigger a lethal drug at the onset of dementia. In the report, co-authors Margaret Battin and Brent M. Kious, proposed the...
Canadian mother requests lethal injection for 4-year-old son born with disability
A Canadian mother has asked the Canadian government to extend euthanasia to children so a lethal injection might be given to her son. Karie-Lyn Pelletier, from L’Islet, says she will wish to end the life of her four-year-old son, Abel, if his condition becomes worse....
New polling shows just one in three MPs support assisted suicide
New polling shows that only 35% of MPs support introducing assisted suicide to the UK. The polling, released by YouGov today, shows that only 35% of MPs support a law change to allow “doctors to assist in the suicide of someone suffering from a terminal...
