Ireland Debates Assisted Suicide

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in 10 U.S. states and in Austria, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Colombia, Switzerland and Spain.  Ireland is currently considering legislation that would authorize the practice there, with vigorous debate on both sides.  Longtime Irish barrister William Binchy, a former Commissioner with the Irish Human Rights Commission, warned lawmakers that people who are “old and physically frail” may be concerned that “they are becoming a burden on their families and feel that, with physician-assisted suicide lawful – possibly practised by their own doctor – it might to appropriate for them to end their lives.”

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