Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
IT HAS NOW been more than a year since the death of Marie Fleming, but the debate sparked on euthanasia and the right to die has continued.
She lost a legal case at the Supreme Court in 2013 to secure a right to die. She wanted to ensure that her partner, Tom Curran, would not be prosecuted if he helped her to end her life.
The court ruled that there is no Constitutional right to die, or to be helped to do so.
However, that was wasn’t the end of her fight. Curran is now is drafting new legislation on new right-to-die laws.
And Marie’s case wasn’t an isolated one.
In October, Katie Tobin shared her story of being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis two years ago, and has now reached the stage where she must take 42 tablets a day.
She said that if she was an animal, she ‘would be put to sleep’.
“It’s something I have put a lot of thought into…I didn’t just decide I wanted to die,” she told TV3′s Ireland AM.
I know the progression my illness is going to take – I will end up taking up a hospital bed and taking treatment that will keep me comfortable.
The following month, the story emerged of Brittany Maynard. Although it took place in the United States it still struck a chord in Ireland.
She was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in April, and told that at just 29, she had six months left to live.
“I will die upstairs in my bedroom with my husband, mother, stepfather and best friend by my side, and pass peacefully,” Brittany said.
Oregon, where Brittany lived, has a Death With Dignity Act that enables people to self-administer lethal medications.
Her death even provoked a response from the Vatican, with a senior official condemning her death as wicked.
French lawmakers unveiled proposals last month for a bill that would allow doctors to plunge terminally-ill patients into a deep sleep until they die, reviving the deeply divisive end-of-life debate.
The bill would also make “living wills” — drafted by people who do not want to be kept alive artificially if they are too ill to decide — legally binding on doctors rather than merely consultative as they are now.
This type of sedation can also be used on patients who are not able to make decisions, in certain circumstances.
However, vast variations exist across Europe in laws on euthanasia.
AFP has compiled this run-down of the situation in each country.
In the Netherlands, active, direct euthanasia has been legal since April 2002. Requested administration of a drug in lethal doses is authorised if patients make the request while fully mentally lucid. They must also endure unbearable and endless suffering from a condition diagnosed as incurable by at least two doctors.
The Netherlands has also authorised euthanasia for children younger than 12 under strict conditions.
Belgium lifted restrictions on euthanasia in September 2002 for patients facing constant, unbearable and untreatable physical or psychic suffering; aged 18 or over; and who request termination of life in a voluntary, deliberated and repeated manner free from coercion.
Provisions for doctor-assisted death in cases that meet those criteria may also be stipulated in “living wills” written by healthy people before they fall ill, and which remain valid for five years.
In February 2014, Belgium became the first country to authorise children to request euthanasia if they suffer a terminal disease, and understand the consequences of the act.
In Luxembourg a text legalising euthanasia in certain terminal cases was approved in March 2009. It excludes minors.
Switzerland is one of the rare countries that allows assisted suicide by patients administering a lethal dose of medication themselves. Switzerland does not allow active, direct euthanasia by a third party, but tolerates the provision of substances to relieve suffering even if death is a possible side-effect.
Passive euthanasia, or the halting of medical procedures that maintain life, is also tolerated.
In France, a 2005 law acknowledges a “right to die” in connection with procedures to ease suffering.
A doctor can prescribe pain killers even if their use under certain conditions may result in death, provided the patient is in an advanced stage of an incurable disease.
Sweden authorised passive euthanasia in 2010.
Britain has allowed medical personnel to halt life-preserving treatment in certain cases since 2002. Prosecution of those who have helped a close relative die after clearly expressing the desire to end their lives has receded since 2010.
In Austria and Germany, passive euthanasia is permitted if the patient has requested it.
Since 1992, Denmark has allowed patients to file previously written refusal of excessive treatment in dire situations, with the document held in a centralised register.
In Norway, passive euthanasia is permitted if requested by the patient, or by a relative if the patient is unconscious.
In Hungry, Spain, and the Czech Republic, people with incurable diseases can refuse treatment.
In Portugal, active and passive euthanasia is not legal, but an ethical council has approved the halting of treatment in certain cases.
In Ireland, Italy, Romania, Greece, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, and Poland, euthanasia is forbidden, and considered homicide. Punishment can range from 14 and 15 years in prison in Ireland and Italy respectively, to relatively light sentences in Croatia.
- © AFP, 2014, with reporting by Nicky Ryan and TheJournal.ie
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I hereby submit an improved bid of €2.50, two cans of Tanora (expiry March 2023), a copy of yesterday’s Irish Examiner (mint condition, only read once) and a handful of mini-Bounties that were not claimed from last Christmas’s tub of Celebrations.
@Kevin Collins: I like the mini Bountys!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: freak
@Dave: And I would prefer one of the dark chocolate Bountys in the red wrapper!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: sweet jesus
What the article neglects to mention is the lift will not only service the three stories within the building, but also the nine levels of Hell.
Must be a few Masons on the board allowing it to be sold for only €1. Very little green space in the city as it is, and with all their green talk, just shows how little they actually value it.
@Ross O’: Day Boyle would change his opinion fast if there was ever an emergency in the building
‘Who controls the British Crown, who keeps the metric system down….’
@Ronan Mc: We do
Would they do the same if rolls were reversed?
I’m surprised it wasn’t €33
@Dave Huston 5 Blocked By Journal again.: or 666
@Dave Huston 5 Blocked By Journal again.:OMG my ‘like’ was a ’33′!!
FFS. Give éire back to éire, once and for all. The amount of ‘freemasons’ around the world, do not need any part of our Island……….. Go phuck yourselves, Mason
…………
@Joseph Mc Dermott: I’m surprised that the censors understood the significance of 33 and 666.
Why do freemasons still exist?
@Pat the Baker: Why do Christians still exist, in the 21st century? It’s a mystery.
@Pat the Baker: an inner circle established to promote the interests of their membership…some things never change
@Tom: the Catholic Church prohibits membership of the FM as far as I remember.
@Tom: plenty of christians I’m afraid, how this superstition is still alive is a mystery
@Dermattg: I think that was politcal as Freemasons were traditionally Protestant, at least the ones based in Ireland of Christain faith.
@Dermot Lane: Freemasons are a secret society who behave in undemocratic ways across the British Empire – not suitable for a republic.
Not unlike the catholic church, they interfere in politics behind the scenes of course so no-one can challenge them.
@Pat the Baker: Knights of Columbanus ditto!
@Tom: If you really look into it the God they worship (the “Light-Giver”) appears to be Lucifer as that’s what Lucifer means.
Why was the bid not €666 ?
@BLD Games: cos the Masons don’t have any link to the emperor Nero, that we know of.
The Tuckey St. Masonic Hall is beautiful inside.
People need more parks in cities not less. Inner cities turning into wastelands populated by sports clothing outlets. Depressing.
Why not indeed
I mean, it costs alot of money for the upkeep of the massive building they own on Molesworth St. In fact, i think its half of one side of the street.
I mean, they are not made of money.
Or are they ?
The Peace Park is built partly on top of a mass grave dating from the Siege of 1690.
@Seamus Enright: The Peace Park is often not very peaceful! One of the dodgiest parts of the city.
They really know how to put the “free” in to “Freemason”
“The Freemasons are a fraternal organisation whose main operations in Ireland include charity fundraising. ”
What rubbish. They are a secret society who at the higher Degrees incorporate blood-curdling oaths against revealing Masonic secrets. How this kind of deal was even considered beggars belief.
Women should be allowed to be in The ‘sexist’ Masons
Sell it for a proper price it’s public money they are dealing with. No giv aways.
What is it with ffg they just can’t stop giving our land away to private entities for near to nothing
have your say