Editing Assisted suicide (section)

==Restrictions and criteria==

To qualify for medical aid in dying, individuals must typically meet strict criteria, which may include:

* they have a terminal (i.e. likely to die in 6 months or a year) or incurable illness or disability
* they are of [[sound mind]]
* they [[informed consent|voluntarily]] and repeatedly express their wish to die
* they take the specified, lethal dose by their own hand

Laws vary in scope from place to place. 

In Canada and some European countries eligibility also includes ‘unbearable suffering’, i.e. the person does not need to be terminally ill.<ref name="auto7"/>

In the United States, medical aid in dying is limited to those who have a prognosis of less than six months to live. Additionally, it is required in the United States that a physician offer alternative methods to limit a patient's suffering or discomfort, such as hospice or pallative care, before allowing them to agree to medical aid in dying.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Medical Aid in Dying - Compassion & Choices |url=https://compassionandchoices.org/our-issues/medical-aid-in-dying/ |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=compassionandchoices.org/ |language=en-US}}</ref>  

=== Switzerland ===
In [[Euthanasia in Switzerland|Switzerland]], a medical diagnosis is not required. Any person of sound mind can seek assistance to commit suicide. The [[Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland|Federal Supreme Court]] affirmed in 2023 that in case of mental illness, several intensive discussions with the individual, questioning the patient's relatives and obtaining a medical [[second opinion]] is sufficient for a doctor to prescribe a lethal drug a mentally ill person. An opinion written by a [[psychiatric]] specialist is not necessary.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Bundesgericht stützt liberale Sterbehilfepraxis |last=Bondolfi |first=Sibilla |date=2023-06-28 |url=https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/hilfe-zum-suizid-bundesgericht-stuetzt-liberale-sterbehilfepraxis |access-date=2025-03-30 |work=Swiss Radio and Television}}</ref>

The Swiss association Dignitas requires that the person:
* have a disease which will lead to death (terminal illness), and/or an unendurable incapacitating disability, and/or unbearable and uncontrollable pain,
* be of sound judgement,
* be able to commit the last stage – to swallow, administer the gastric tube or open the valve of the intravenous access tube – by themselves.<ref name="auto5">{{Cite web|url=http://www.dignitas.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=5&lang=en|title=Brochure of DIGNITAS|website=www.dignitas.ch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dignitas.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20&Itemid=60&lang=en|title=Accompanied Suicide|website=www.dignitas.ch}}</ref>