Comparative Study of Physician-Assisted Suicide Status in the Laws of Different Countries and Iran Legal System

Euthanasia is one of the most important and challenging topics in the field of biomedical ethics. This study was conducted to compare the situation of "physician-assisted suicide" in the laws of different countries and to explain its position in the Iran legal system.

In this comparative study, after purposeful search and review of related studies, the issue of "physician-assisted suicide" in the laws of 12 different countries was compared and then, the need to criminalize it in the legal system based on ethical and Islamic principles was discussed.

Countries' position towards criminalization or decriminalization of "physician-assisted suicide" is different. It has been criminalized in England and Wales, Germany and Canada, absolutely, and in countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium and the state of Victoria, Australia, conditionally. Although most of the United States has criminalized it, the states of Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, and California, along with Switzerland, Colombia, Luxembourg and India, have taken steps to legalize it. Despite the religious sanctity of suicide and its immorality in Islamic teachings, it has not been explicitly criminalized in the Iran legal system.

Given the relative silence of the legislature about suicide, the legal gap of "physician-assisted suicide" is observed. Thus, based on moral and Islamic teachings and other criteria of criminology in religious communities, it is appropriate to consider the criminalization of this issue and its conditions in the Iran legal system.