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The VE Bulletin Excerpts
'No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself' Rudyard Kipling
Vol 20: No 3 November 2003
Council of Europe calls on European states to consider decriminalising voluntary euthanasia - no right to impose suffering at the end of life against a person's will
The Council of Europe's Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee has approved a report that calls on European States to consider decriminalising voluntary euthanasia. The draft report claims that no-one has the right to impose on the terminally-ill and dying the obligation to live out their life in unbearable suffering and anguish when they have persistently expressed the wish to die.
No obligations are placed on any health worker to participate in an act of voluntary euthanasia. Neither can such an act be interpreted as expressing any lesser consideration for human life. Governments of member states have been requested to
- collect and analyse empirical evidence about end-of-life decisions
- promote public discussion of such evidence
- promote a comparative analysis of such evidence in the framework of the Council of Europe
- consider authorising enabling legislation which would allow for voluntary euthanasia.
The Assembly will debate the report during its Autumn session, held between 25 September-2 October 2003.
Information provided by ERGO News service 5/9/03
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