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Criminalisation of incitement to suicide: the Belgian legislator excludes assisted suicide and euthanasia
On the 22 February, the Belgian legislator adopted the new Book II of the Penal Code, which enshrines the new offence of incitement to suicide. Its aim is to protect people's lives, but it excludes assisted suicide and euthanasia from this range of protection.
News Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Euthanasia in Belgium: 15% increase in 2023 - Towards a normalisation of programmed death
On Tuesday 27 February, the Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia in Belgium (CFCEE) released the figures for euthanasia declared in 2023. The number of euthanasia procedures officially carried...
News Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Analysis: the Mortier case: the ECtHR assessing the Belgian euthanasia law for the first time
In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, 22/10/2022, the European Court of Human Rights considers that Belgium violated the right to life of a patient euthanized because of depression in 2012.
Paper Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Euthanasia, 20 years later
On 28 May 2002, Belgium became the second country to decriminalise euthanasia, i.e. the act of "intentionally ending a person's life at the latter's request" because of his state of health.
News Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
BREAKING NEWS - The Belgian Constitutional Court rejects the appeal relating to the 2020 law on euthanasia
In a judgment published on Thursday February 17, 2022, the Constitutional Court of Belgium rejects the action for annulment of the law of 15 March 2020 amending the legislation on euthanasia.
News Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Belgium: Euthanasia of New-borns Practiced Outside the Law
A recent study has brought to light the practice of deliberate euthanasia to new-borns for whom the medical team considered that there was "no hope of a bearable future". These practices concerned 10% of the...
News Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
The new Spanish law on euthanasia contested against the Constitutional Court a few days before its entry into force
Friday June 25 is the stipulated date for the Spanish new law on euthanasia entry into force, exactly three months after its approval and publication in the Spanish Official Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado). With...
News Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Position of the WORLD MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (WMA) on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide – Chronological overview (1987-2019)
In October 2019, the World Medical Association1 (WMA) adopted a declaration on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. This new declaration is an opportunity to analyze the documents successively adopted by the WMA...