Euthanasia

Abstract

The problem of euthanasia emerges again and again in today’s Europe. The Dutch type of regulation of euthanasia could be introduced into the Hungarian legal system. Today, in Hungary, the ethical guidelines of the chamber of medicine, the criminal law and the administrative health law also forbid active euthanasia. In Hungary, the criminal code reform of 2012 missed to liberalise the regulation of euthanasia. Such liberalisation awaits bottom-up support from the part of the society. In Europe, active euthanasia is legal only in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and Switzerland. In Hungary, a passive form of euthanasia is legal, i.e. a dying patient may, under strict procedural circumstances, refuse medical treatment. The patient is not allowed to refuse medical treatment, if she is pregnant and foreseeably capable to give birth to her child. Orv. Hetil., 2013, 154, 671–674.