Australia Australia Chronology Euthanasia advocates work to make suicide easy.
Belgium Belgian Law on Euthanasia Belgium Chronology Canada Canada Chronology England England Chronology Germany Germany Chronology Netherlands Clinical Problems With the Performance of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide in the Netherlands Killing Babies, Compassionately. The Netherlands follows in Germany’s footsteps. Netherlands Chronology Netherlands Summary Seduced by Death: Doctors, Patients, and Assisted Suicide The Slippery Slope: The Dutch Example New Zealand New Zealand Chronology Switzerland Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in Switzerland Assisted-Suicide in Switzerland Open Regulation and Practice in Assisted Dying Switzerland Chronology |
England Chronology 1997
- The British parliament rejected the "Doctor-Assisted Dying Bill" for terminally ill patients.
2000
- Controversy is created in Great Britain as families nationwide came forward with stories of loved ones being killed without their agreement. Debate ensues on euthanasia and assisted suicide.
2001
- Diane Pretty brings an assisted suicide case to the British House of Lords. In Britain, it is illegal to give or receive assistance in suicide, although suicide itself is not prosecuted. Since she was physically unable to kill herself, she wanted her husband to assist her suicide without fear of prosecution.
- Diane Pretty claimed that England's ban on assisted suicide violates numerous provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.
- On November 29, 2001, the British House of Lords unanimously rejected Diane Pretty's request for assisted suicide. The court held that the European Convention on Human Rights is in place to protect life rather than to take it.
2002
- Diane Pretty's case was urgently sent to the European Court of Human Rights.
- On April 29, 2002, the European Court of Human Rights upheld England's ban on assisted suicide.
2003
- The British Government announced its support of a proposed Mental Incapacity Bill which would allow neglect pf patients with mental disabilities who are not dying, and could force physicians to comply with the neglect.
- The chairman of a group which promotes euthanasia stepped down as chairman after he was arrested for attempting to help a friend commit suicide.
2004
- The British House of Lords appointed a committee to review proposed legislation to legalize assisted suicide in the United Kingdom for terminally ill patients who had considered all other options.
- A medical ethicist suggested that it is acceptable to kill a baby born with genetic defects undetected during pregnancy. The ethicist argued that there is no moral distinction between aborting an unborn child with a genetic defect and killing the child after birth.
Posted on June 26, 2004. |
