Physician Assisted Suicide in Belgian Law

Abstract:

The legal status of physician assisted suicide in Belgian law is ambiguous. Unlike other criminal codes, eg the Dutch one, the Belgian criminal code does not make aiding suicide explicitly a crime. But there are some who believe that aiding suicide might be a punishable offence in an indirect way. By not regulating physician assisted suicide in the Act on euthanasia of May, 28th 2002 the Belgian legislature has missed in our opinion an historical chance to clarify the legal status of aiding suicide.