<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Switzerland<\/em><\/a><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n 26 May 2022<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Politicians in the Isle of Man voted 22 over 2 in favour of introducing a Bill that, if passed, would lead to legal assisted dying. With this, the Isle of Man follow the Island of Jersey and Scotland in exploring, debating, and voting on voluntary assisted dying, the human right to choose the time of one’s own end of suffering and life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Communiqu\u00e9 by the Humanists UK<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 26 November 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n By 52 to 32 votes, the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, Australia, passed the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021 (\u201can Act to provide for, and regulate access to, voluntary assisted dying for persons with a terminal illness; to establish the Voluntary Assisted Dying Board; and to make consequential amendments to other Acts.\u201d). Next, the bill will be the subject of an upper house committee, which will consider public submissions and hold hearings. That inquiry must be completed before parliament resumes next year in February, to allow for the bill to be debated and voted on in the upper house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Website of NSW Parliament<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 24 November 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The State Assembly members of the Island of Jersey, by 36 to 10 votes, approved in-principle to support assisted dying legislation, such being the first British Parliament to do so. This follows a Citizens\u2019 Jury report and polls, which showed a robust majority in support of assisted dying for adults living with a terminal illness or unbearable suffering, subject to safeguards. The debate was triggered and carried by two Islanders who had requested assisted dying with \u201cDIGNITAS \u2013 To live with dignity \u2013 To die with dignity\u201d which led to forming the group \u201cEnd of Life Choices Jersey\u201d, supported by DIGNITAS. Next, details of the processes and safeguards will be worked up and a further debate on the issue will follow. If those proposals are backed up, a draft law could be discussed and voted on in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More information on Assisted Dying legislation in Jersey<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 20 April 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n On 20 April, the Chamber of Deputies in Chile approved a bill to allow voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide for competent individuals over the age of 18. The bill requires that a person making the request would have to be diagnosed by two doctors as having a serious and incurable disease and suffer from unbearable physical ailments. The bill now goes to the Senate for debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Article by AP<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 18 March 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, the parliament of Spain has legalised voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide for people with serious and incurable or debilitating diseases who wish to end their suffering and life. Congreso de los Diputados, \u201cLey Org\u00e1nica de regulaci\u00f3n de la euthanasia\u201d<\/a> (in Spanish)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 27 August 2020<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Hon Michael Gaffney, member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council, has tabled the End Of Life Choices (Voluntary Assisted Dying) Bill<\/a>: an Act to provide for, and regulate access to, voluntary assisted dying, to establish the Commissioner of Voluntary Assisted Dying, and for related purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 23 October 2017<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n On 23 August 2017, the Parliament of Western Australia established a Joint Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council to inquire and report on the need for laws in Western Australia to allow citizens to make informed decisions regarding their own end of life choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Website of the Parliament – Joint Select Committee on End of Life Choices (Link)<\/a> 11 July 2016 \/ 17 June 2016 \/ 6 February 2015<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n On 17 June 2016, Bill C-14<\/a> \u2013 an Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying) \u2013 passed in the House of Commons and the Senate and is now law in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n End of Life Planning Canada<\/a> However, Bill C-14 will be challenged in court because it conflicts with the Supreme Court\u2019s decision: by limiting access to only those patients whose natural deaths are \u201creasonably foreseeable\u201d, the new law denies rightful access to entire classes of patients who have severe chronic conditions but who are not approaching end of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 6 February 2015, in a unanimous 9:0 decision Canada\u2019s Supreme Court has struck down the country\u2019s Criminal Code laws prohibiting physician-assisted suicide. The rule will not come into force for another 12 months; however, it means it will no longer be against the law, under certain circumstances, for a doctor to help someone who is terminally ill to end their life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the words of MP Steven Flechter: ”It’s unCanadian not to allow people to be empowered to make end of life decisions for themselves.”<\/a> As part of its response to the Carter decision, the Government of Canada has established the External Panel on Options for a Legislative Response to Carter v. Canada. The mandate of the Panel is to engage Canadians and key stakeholders on issues the federal government will need to consider in its response to the Carter ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally to general information, all available on the it\u2019s website, DIGNITAS presented the panel upon their visit with a paper\/submission<\/a> (PDF)<\/p>\n\n\n\n DIGNITAS has also written and submitted a paper with a complete law proposal for Canada<\/a>, the \u201cDraft Act to Provide for Accompanied Suicide with Assistance by Registered Charitable Not-for-Profit Organisations (Accompanied Suicide Act \u2013 ASA)\u201d (PDF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The panel learned much from the European experience. However, there has been criticism on the Panel being that Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov and Catherine Frazee \u2013 two of the three panellists \u2013 were witnesses against assisted dying in the Carter v. Canada case. This raises questions as to the independence of the panel, it undermines its credibility and it could lead to a biased final report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, there has been critique that the survey the panel used was designed to manufacture fear, for example by telling people that \u201csome say\u201d that assisted dying may decrease resources for the disabled and then asking whether people are concerned. Or the question of whether a hypothetical 17-year-old with a full and complete understanding of his or her condition should be able to receive a doctor’s help to die \u2013 whilst in fact the Supreme Court decision dealt only with adults, not emancipated minors. (Link<\/a>); for a full report read: A Methodological Analysis of the Issues Book Survey on Doctor-Assisted Dying (Link\/PDF<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 21 January 2015 \/ 4 June 2015 \/ 4 + 11 September 2015 \/ 5 October 2015<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Californian State Senators Lois Wolk, Bill Monning and others, backed by Brittany Maynard\u2019 family, introduced the \u2018End of Life Option Act: modelled after the 1997 Oregon Dying with Dignity Act, the Bill would give a terminally ill, mentally competent adult resident in California, the right to ask and receive from his or her physician a prescription for a lethal drug to end his or her suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senate Bill SB-128 End of Life (Link to California Legislative Information)<\/a> On 2 September 2015, the Public Health and Developmental Services Committee of the California Assembly approved of the California End of Life Option Act by 10 : 3 votes, and two days later the Assembly Finance Commitee by 5 : 3 votes. In a next step, the bill will be voted on by both houses of the California Legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 11 September, the End of Life Option Act (SB 128) was approved by 23 : 14 votes of the Senators after it was approved by 43 : 34 votes in the Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 5 October 2015, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed the End of Life Option Act. “I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill. And I wouldn’t deny that right to others.” he wrote in his signing message. Thus, California becomes a further US-State in which terminally ill have freedom of choice to self-determinedly end their suffering with physician\u2019s assessment and prescription of medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11 September 2015<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The British Lower Chamber, the House of Commons, held an extensive debate on the Assisted Dying Bill introduced by Rob Marris. The proposed Bill was rejected by 330 against 118 votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minutes of the debate in the House of Commons (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dignitas is very disappointed that UK residents are still forced to travel to Dignitas. The 330 MPs who voted against the Assisted Dying Bill should be ashamed for their disgraceful ignorance towards the clear public opinion which is pro-choice in \u2018last matters\u2019, and even more so for forcing the people who elect them and pay taxes for them to go abroad when all they want is to have the basic human right of a self-determined, accompanied by loved ones and safe end of suffering. 18 July 2014<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The British Upper Chamber, the House of Lords, held an extensive debate on the Assisted Dying Bill by Lord Falconer. In this Second Reading with a record 126 speakers, the Bill was supported by 64 against 59 with 3 neutral and therefore it will move on to Committee Stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minutes of the debate (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 23 January 2012 \/ 1 May 2012<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Scotland, parliament member Margo MacDonald lodged a proposal for a Bill, the \u201eAssisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill\u201d, to enable a competent adult with a terminal illness or condition to request assistance to end their own life, and to decriminalise certain actions taken by others to provide such assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A consultation was held until 30 April 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The proposed Bill includes elements of the practice of accompanied suicides in Switzerland as well as of the \u201eDeath with Dignity Act\u201d of the US-State of Oregon<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Website of the Scottish Parliament with consultation document (Link)<\/a> 22 March 2012<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Canada, the Quebec National Assembly\u2019s delivered its long-awaited report \u201cMourir dans la dignit\u00e9\u201d (\u201cDying with Dignity\u201d). The Quebec report recommends that doctors should be permitted to perform euthanasia or \u201cmedical aid in dying\u201d in exceptional circumstances, yet it is against assisted suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Details on the Report on the website of the Quebec National Assembly (Link)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The report was presented as a progressive and important \u201cfirst\u201d provincial initiative in Canada, however, both the report and commentators on it appeared to forget that more than 20 years ago a British Columbia (BC) Royal Commission approved of what it believed was widespread support for the right to die with dignity: The 1991 report, \u201cCloser to Home\u201d, was the work of a BC Royal Commission on Health Care and Costs. Under the heading of \u201cRequested Mercy Killing\u201d the Commission recommended that the BC government ask the federal Canadian government to amend the Criminal Code s.241(b) so that physicians could prescribe, and health care workers could administer, pain relief medication in a fatal dose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5 May 2011 \/ 3 October 2011 \/ 5 January 2012<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In England, Lord Falconer launched The Commission on Assisted Dying which – amongst other aims – shall investigate the circumstances under which it should be possible for people to be assisted to die. See their website www.commissiononassisteddying.co.uk<\/a>. In answer to the Commission’s Call for evidence, DIGNITAS handed in a submission:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Submission of DIGNITAS to the Commission on Assisted Dying (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon the visit of two delegates of the Commission on Assisted Dying, DIGNITAS provided additional notes to answer specific questions of the Commissioneers. Available here (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Final Report of the Commission on Assisted Dying (Link)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n January – December 2010<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Member of the Scottish Parliament Margo MacDonald introduced the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill to permit assistance to be given to persons who wish their lives to be ended; and for connected purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Details of the Bill on the website of The Scottish Parliament<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 12 May 2006<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Second reading of the \u201cAssisted dying for the terminally ill bill\u201d proposed by Lord Joffe in view of introducing a British law on assistance in dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minutes of the reading in the House of Lords (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 10 October 2005<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The British Upper Chamber, the House of Lords, held an extensive debate on the report by the Select Committee which examined a bill introduced by Lord Joffe, a law on assistance in dying for terminally ill patients, the \u201cAssisted dying for the terminally ill bill\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIsle of Man introduces Assisted Dying Bill<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nVoluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021 passed<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nIsland of Jersey: Parliament Supports Assisted Dying Legislation in Principle<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nA self-determined end of life choice legal in Chile maybe soon<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSpain has legalised voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The individual must be a resident of Spain, competent, the request must be made on several occasions and be backed by medical reports, and healthcare workers will retain their right to conscientious objection. After the procedure is approved by an evaluating committee, the patient must give final consent again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nDevelopment in Tasmania, Australia<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWestern Australia: Joint Select Committee established<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Submission by DIGNITAS – To live with dignity – To die with dignity (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nCanada: Bill C-14 now law<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Right to die Society of Canada<\/a>
Dying with Dignity Canada<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A brief summary of the case by the BCCLA<\/a>
Supreme Court judgment of Carter v. Canada<\/a>
Media coverage<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nCalifornia: ‘End of Life Option Act’ introduced<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
On 4 June 2015, the Californian Senate passed the End of Life Option Act (SB 128) by 23 to 14 votes. The Bill thus moves on to the vote in the Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHouse of Commons: extensive debate on Assisted Dying Bill by Rob Marris<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Clearly, these 330 MPs do not respect what the European Court of Human Rights has ruled on January 20th, 2011 (application no. 31322\/07, judgement Haas, paragraph 51):
\u2018In the light of this jurisdiction, the Court finds that the right of an individual to decide how and when to end his life, provided that said individual was in a position to make up his own mind in that respect and to take the appropriate action, was one aspect of the right to respect for private life under Article 8 of the Convention<\/em>‘.
Dignitas sends a big Thank You to all of the 118 MPs who supported the Assisted Dying Bill. They show that there is humanism and there is hope to one day pass a Bill which will give people the freedom of choice they have been asking for decades.
The main aim of Dignitas is to disappear; for this, since 1998, Dignitas works for the worldwide implementation of \u2018the last human right\u2019 \u2013 which is free choice in end-of-life options and therefore includes access to an accompanied suicide. As soon as the UK and further countries implement what is sensible and humane \u2013 which is the Swiss thirty year practice in combining palliative care, suicide attempt prevention, advance directives and the right to choose in life and at life\u2019s end \u2013 nobody from the UK or anywhere else will have to travel to Dignitas anymore and thus Dignitas will and can close down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHouse of Lords: extensive debate on Assisted Dying Bill by Lord Falconer<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nScotland: \u201eAssisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill\u201d proposed<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Response\/submission of DIGNITAS to the consultation (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nQuebec National Assembly\u2019s delivered its long-awaited report \u201cMourir dans la dignit\u00e9\u201d <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nEngland: commission on Assisted Dying launched by Lord Falconer<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nScotland: Margo MacDonald introduced End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSecond reading of the \u201cAssisted dying for the terminally ill bill\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHouse of Lords: extensive debate on the report by the Select Committee<\/h4>\n\n\n\n