Article on Aid-In-Dying Around the World

Kristina Ebbott (2010 J.D. candidate, William Mitchell College of Law) recently published her article entitled A “Good Death” Defined By Law: Comparing the Legality of Aid-In-Dying Around the World, 37 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 170 (2010). The introduction is below:

Aid-in-dying is a complex issue that incites heated global debate. This issue will become more substantial throughout the next fifty years as the elderly population increases because the elderly are more likely to face decisions regarding end-of-life care. Despite polarized views on this subject, four countries have enacted laws that provide specific regulatory systems that permit a person to seek aid-in-dying from a physician. An additional country permits aid-in-dying, not by statute, but by providing exemptions to prosecution in its penal code. These cases all provide examples of how changes in social acceptance and medical technology affect the way the law treats the concept of human dignity at the end of life. To learn from these examples, we must study them and analyze which regulatory structures work best and why.

Part I of this article introduces the reader to the various terms used in discussions regarding this topic. Part II gives the historical background of euthanasia practices around the world and the movements that have sought to legalize different forms of euthanasia. Part III examines the five countries that have legalized aid-in-dying and the different regulatory systems those countries have employed in an attempt to provide patients with choices while avoiding abuses. Finally, in Part IV, I provide an assessment of the changing cultural climate that has contributed to the legalization of aid-in-dying in certain countries and whether it is preferable to enact laws that explicitly permit certain forms of aid-in-dying. Part IV also sets forth the author’s perception of the most functional attributes of each law.