Euthanasia and Law in Europe

This book is a successor to Euthanasia and Law in the Netherlands (Amsterdam University Press 1998). This second edition emphasizes recent legal developments and new research, and has been expanded to include a full treatment of Belgium, where, since 2002, euthanasia has also become legal. Also included are short descriptions of the legal situations and what is known about actual practices in a number of other European countries — the UK, Switzerland, France, and Spain. The book strives for as complete and dispassionate a description of the situation as possible, covering in detail: --- the substantive law applicable to euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, withholding and withdrawing treatment, use of pain relief in potentially lethal doses, terminal sedation, and termination of life without a request — particularly in the case of newborn babies --- the process of legal development that has led to the current state of the law --- the system of legal control and its operation in practice --- the results of empirical research concerning actual medical practice