The Austrian government on Saturday presented its proposals to legalize assisted suicide from 2022, in response to a court ruling that ruled that the current ban violates fundamental rights.
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In December 2020, the Constitutional Court ordered the government to lift the current ban on assisted dying, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.
According to a summary of the legislation proposed by the Justice Department, adults who are terminally ill or suffering from a permanent and debilitating illness will be able to receive help to end their life.
Two doctors will have to assess each case, one of whom will have to be qualified in palliative medicine.
In particular, they will need to determine whether the patient is capable of making the decision independently.
In addition, a period of at least twelve weeks should elapse before access to assisted suicide is granted, to ensure that it is not requested due to a temporary crisis.
This period will be reduced to two weeks for patients in the
“terminal phase”
of an illness.
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The proposals will now go through expert scrutiny before being presented to parliament, where MEPs are expected to approve them before the end of the year.
If no new regulations were put in place by the end of 2021, the current ban on assisted dying would simply lapse, leaving the practice unregulated.
The bishop of Innsbruck does not oppose it while expressing reservations
The Bishop of Innsbruck, Hermann Glettler, said the proposals were a
"sensitive and responsible" way
to comply with the Constitutional Court ruling and welcomed the fact that they also plan to increase funding for palliative care.
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However, he said additional safeguards should be added to the process that patients will have to go through.
Elsewhere in Europe, euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands and Belgium, but traditionally Catholic states like Ireland and Poland oppose it.