What is euthanasia?
Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable disease, at their request.
What are the current laws around euthanasia in Australia?
Euthanasia is currently illegal across Australia.
The Northern Territory was the first jurisdiction in the world to legalise physician-assisted euthanasia, passing the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act in 1995.
Terminally ill cancer sufferer, Bob Dent was the first person to end his life under this act in 1996.
The Federal Government later overturned the act in 1997.
Countries where euthanasia is legal:
Belgium (legal since 2002)
Luxembourg (legal since 2008)
The Netherlands (legal since 2001)
Countries where laws around euthanasia are unclear:
Colombia (approved by the Constitutional court in 1997, but never officially ratified)
Japan (illegal in the Japanese Criminal code but a 1962 High court case ruled euthanasia is permissible under certain conditions)
Countries where euthanasia is illegal:
Australia
Canada
Germany
India
Israel
Italy
Russia
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom
