” “The institutions ” “of the EU have never exhaustively ” “tackled the question of euthanasia. The Council of Europe, ” “on the other hand, has declared its opposition” “” “” “
The European Union has not yet exhaustively tackled the problem of euthanasia. The European Parliament, for example, initially addressed the question through a Report and a Resolution adopted in 1991 on the proposal of the Commission on the environment, health and consumers, with the title “Assistance to terminal patients”. Without ever explicitly mentioning euthanasia, the Resolution called for the promotion and improvement of “palliative treatment”. It also affirmed that “in the absence of any curative therapy and after the failure of palliative treatment correctly applied both at the psychological and at the medical level, if a fully conscious invalid asks, in an insistent and continuous way, that an existence he regards as devoid of any dignity be ended, and if a committee of physicians, established for the purpose, ascertains the impossibility of dispensing any new specific treatment, the said request must be satisfied, without the respect for human life being prejudiced in this way”. Moreover, the annual Resolutions of the EP on respect for human rights in the European Union have often made reference to euthanasia, though without specifically addressing the issue. In particular, the Resolution of 1995 (OGEC C 320, 28/10/1996) affirms that “the right to life implies the right to health care and demands the prohibition of euthanasia”. But, if we exclude these documents, a real debate on the subject within the EU institutions has never taken place. Even the “European Group for the ethics of science and the new technologies”, established within the European Commission, has never directly tackled the question. The Council of Europe, on the other hand, has debated the question in a far more exhaustive fashion. In 1999, it approved a Resolution for maintaining the absolute prohibition of euthanasia. Following the approval of the Dutch law on euthanasia in April 2001, the Council of Europe’s Commission for social affairs, health and the family expressly declared that “the recognition of the right to death claimed by numerous associations in Europe does not represent an appropriate response to the aspirations of the incurably or terminally ill”. The document also refers to article 2 of the European Convention on human rights, which explicitly prohibits the possibility of “voluntarily causing death”. Euthanasia in the world. Australia: the Northern Territory approved a law in 1995 that permits active euthanasia, under strict control, and subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions. This law was declared null and void by the Australian Senate in 1997. Colombia: a sentence of the Constitutional Court in 1997 legalized euthanasia for the terminally ill who have expressed their consent to it. Canada: suicide is legal, but not medically-assisted suicide. Japan: “painless death” is permitted on four conditions: insupportable physical pain, inevitable and imminent death, exhaustion of the painkilling therapy, and the patient’s own will to have his life shortened. Oregon (USA): it is the only American State that has since 1994 legalized the prescription of lethal drugs to terminally ill patients. Holland: the well-known law of 2001 makes Holland the first country in the world where euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal, albeit within a particularly lengthy regulatory framework that involves the evaluation of various supervisory committees. Belgium: a bill, already approved by the Senate, similar to the legislation in force in Holland, is currently before parliament. Catalonia and Estremadura (Spain): a process of regulating passive euthanasia is taking place; its key point consists in the patient’s declaration that he does not wish to be subjected to any further therapy.
