Editing Euthanasia (section)

==Legal status==
{{Main|Legality of euthanasia}}
{{globalize|section|date=November 2011}}
[[File:Legality of euthanasia.svg|thumb|350px|right|Current status of euthanasia around the world:
{{Legend|#0000ffff|Active voluntary euthanasia legal ([[Belgium]], [[Canada]], [[Colombia]], [[Ecuador]], [[Luxembourg]], the [[Netherlands]], [[New Zealand]], [[Portugal]],{{refn|group=note|name=PortugalNote|'''Portugal''': Law not yet in force, awaits regulation to be implemented. The law legalizing euthanasia, Law n.º 22/2023, of 22 May,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/lei/22-2023-213498831|title=Law n.º 22/2023, of 22 May, published on the 1st Series of Diário da República, n.º 101, of 25 May 2023, in Portuguese, retrieved 25 May 2023.}}</ref> states in Article 31 that the regulation must be approved within 90 days of the publishing of the law, which would have been 23 August 2023. However, the regulation has not yet been approved by the government. On 24 November 2023, the Ministry of Health stated that the regulation of the law would be the responsibility of the new government elected in the 10 March 2024 elections.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Caeiro |first1=Tiago |title=Eutanásia não avança para já. Ministério da Saúde deixa regulamentação para o próximo governo |url=https://observador.pt/2023/11/24/eutanasia-nao-avanca-para-ja-ministerio-da-saude-deixa-regulamentacao-para-o-proximo-governo/ |trans-title=Euthanasia is not moving forward for now. Ministry of Health leaves regulation to the next government |access-date=14 January 2024 |work=Observador |date=24 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202164552/https://observador.pt/2023/11/24/eutanasia-nao-avanca-para-ja-ministerio-da-saude-deixa-regulamentacao-para-o-proximo-governo/ |archive-date=2 December 2023 |language=Portuguese}}</ref> The law, according to its Article 34, will only enter into force 30 days after the regulation is published.}} [[Spain]] and the Australian states of [[New South Wales]], [[Queensland]], [[South Australia]], [[Tasmania]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] and [[Western Australia]])}}
{{Legend|#00afffff|Passive euthanasia legal (refusal of treatment / withdrawal of life support)}}
{{Legend|#ddddddff|Active euthanasia illegal, passive euthanasia not legislated or regulated}}
{{Legend|#c60000ff|All forms of euthanasia illegal}}
]]
[[File:1998- EAS euthanasia and assisted suicide - by country or state.svg |thumb |350px |Rates of euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) have increased substantially in developed countries, with wide variance in the rates of increase.<ref name=PopDevRvw_20240125>{{cite journal |last1=Colombo |first1=Asher D. |last2=Dalla-Zuanna |first2=Gianpiero |title=Data and Trends in Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, and Some Related Demographic Issues |journal=Population and Development Review |date=25 January 2024 |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=233–257 |doi=10.1111/padr.12605|hdl=11585/955009 |hdl-access=free }} Fig. 1.</ref>]]

Eligibility for euthanasia varies across jurisdictions where it is legal.<ref name="Davis 2019">{{cite web | last=Davis | first=Nicola | title=Euthanasia and assisted dying rates are soaring. But where are they legal? | website=the Guardian | date=2019-07-15 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/15/euthanasia-and-assisted-dying-rates-are-soaring-but-where-are-they-legal | access-date=2024-05-06 | archive-date=26 March 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326011925/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/15/euthanasia-and-assisted-dying-rates-are-soaring-but-where-are-they-legal | url-status=live }}</ref> Some countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands allow [[euthanasia for mental illness]].<ref name="Scopetti Morena Padovano Manetti 2023 p. 1470">{{cite journal | last1=Scopetti | first1=Matteo | last2=Morena | first2=Donato | last3=Padovano | first3=Martina | last4=Manetti | first4=Federico | last5=Di Fazio | first5=Nicola | last6=Delogu | first6=Giuseppe | last7=Ferracuti | first7=Stefano | last8=Frati | first8=Paola | last9=Fineschi | first9=Vittorio | title=Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in Mental Disorders: Ethical Positions in the Debate between Proportionality, Dignity, and the Right to Die | journal=Healthcare | publisher=MDPI AG | volume=11 | issue=10 | date=2023-05-18 | issn=2227-9032 | doi=10.3390/healthcare11101470 | doi-access=free | page=1470| pmid=37239756 | pmc=10218690 }}</ref>

West's ''Encyclopedia of American Law'' states that "a 'mercy killing' or euthanasia is generally considered to be a criminal homicide" and is normally used as a synonym of homicide committed at a request made by the patient.<ref name=WEAL>{{cite book |title=West's Encyclopedia of American Law, Vol. 4 |date=1998 |publisher=West Publishing Company |isbn=9780314201577 |page=24}}</ref><ref name="Tomas_Valiente_1997"/>

The judicial sense of the term "[[homicide]]" includes any intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, even to relieve intractable suffering.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=N. |title=The Euthanasia Debate |journal=Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps |date=1 October 2001 |volume=147 |issue=3 |pages=367–370 |doi=10.1136/jramc-147-03-22|pmid=11766225 |s2cid=298551 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Tomas_Valiente_1997">Carmen Tomás Y Valiente, La regulación de la eutanasia en Holanda, Anuario de Derecho Penal y Ciencias Penales – Núm. L, Enero 1997</ref><ref name="Mohanty">{{Cite journal|title=Variants of homicide: a review |author=Manoj Kumar Mohanty |journal=Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine |date=August 2004 |volume=11 |pmid=15363757 |issue=4 |pages=214–18 |doi=10.1016/j.jcfm.2004.04.006}}</ref> Not all homicide is unlawful.<ref name="homicide">{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/homicide|title=the definition of homicide|website=Dictionary.com|access-date=4 July 2017|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230433/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/homicide|url-status=live}}</ref> Two designations of homicide that carry no criminal punishment are justifiable and excusable homicide.<ref name="homicide"/> In most countries this is not the status of euthanasia. The term "euthanasia" is usually confined to the active variety; the University of Washington website states that "euthanasia generally means that the physician would act directly, for instance by giving a lethal injection, to end the patient's life".<ref name="University of Washington">{{cite web|url=http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pas.html|title=Physician-Assisted Suicide: Ethical Topic in Medicine|website=depts.washington.edu|access-date=4 July 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170413165103/http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pas.html|archive-date=13 April 2017}}</ref> [[Assisted suicide|Physician-assisted suicide]] is thus not classified as euthanasia by [[Oregon|the US State of Oregon]], where it is legal under the [[Oregon Death with Dignity Act]], and despite its name, it is not legally classified as suicide either.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.leg.state.or.us/comm/commsrvs/background_briefs2004/Health%20Care/FG_Physician_Assisted_Suicide2004.pdf|title=Physician Assisted Suicide|last=Taylor|first=Bill|date=7 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041204223955/http://www.leg.state.or.us/comm/commsrvs/background_briefs2004/Health%20Care/FG_Physician_Assisted_Suicide2004.pdf|archive-date=4 December 2004|access-date=7 July 2017}}</ref> Unlike physician-assisted suicide, withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatments with patient consent (voluntary) is almost unanimously considered, at least in the United States, to be legal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/full/162/6/2029|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030813033538/http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/full/162/6/2029|url-status=dead|title="Legal Aspects of Withholding and Withdrawing Life Support from Critically Ill Patients in the United States and Providing Palliative Care to Them", ''Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.'', Volume 162, Number 6, December 2000.|archivedate=13 August 2003}}</ref> The use of pain medication to relieve suffering, even if it hastens death, has been held as legal in several court decisions.<ref name="University of Washington"/>

Some governments around the world have legalized voluntary euthanasia but most commonly it is still considered to be criminal homicide. In the Netherlands and Belgium, where euthanasia has been legalized, it still remains homicide although it is not prosecuted and not punishable if the perpetrator (the doctor) meets certain legal conditions.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Oluyemisi Bamgbose |title=Euthanasia: Another Face of Murder |journal=International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology |volume=48 |issue=1 |year=2004 |pages=111–21 |doi=10.1177/0306624X03256662 |pmid=14969121|citeseerx=10.1.1.631.618 |s2cid=32664881 }}</ref><ref>Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee : Netherlands. 27 August 2001</ref><ref>Carmen Tomás Y Valiente, ''La regulación de la eutanasia en Holanda'', Anuario de Derecho Penal y Ciencias Penales – Núm. L, Enero 1997</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=R Cohen-Almagor |title=Belgian euthanasia law: a critical analysis |journal=J. Med. Ethics |year=2009 |volume=35 |pages=436–39 |doi=10.1136/jme.2008.026799 |pmid=19567694 |issue=7|citeseerx=10.1.1.508.6943 |s2cid=44968015 }}</ref>

In a historic judgment, the [[Supreme Court of India]] legalized passive euthanasia. The apex court remarked in the judgment that the [[Constitution of India]] values liberty, dignity, autonomy, and privacy. A bench headed by [[Chief Justice of India|Chief Justice]] [[Dipak Misra]] delivered a unanimous judgment.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sc-recognises-living-will-by-terminally-ill-patients-for-passive-euthanasia/article22991873.ece | title = Euthanasia and beyond: on the Supreme Court's verdict SC Constitution Bench holds passive euthanasia, living wills permissible | newspaper = [[The Hindu]] | location = [[Karnataka]] | date = 9 March 2018 | access-date = 9 March 2018 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180605032828/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sc-recognises-living-will-by-terminally-ill-patients-for-passive-euthanasia/article22991873.ece | archive-date = 5 June 2018}}</ref>