Euthanasia

Aim: To gather information about the perceptions of the residents of Malta about euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide; and subsequently compare and contrast such perceptions with those of other countries. Method: An online questionnaire containing questions aimed at getting demographic information of the respondents and to gauge their perception towards euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide was distributed electronically via the internet between 29th September – 18th November 2018. Findings: Overall, an increase in the acceptance of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide has been recorded. It is still unclear whether this is due to lack of education about what is and what is not euthanasia, such as pain relief, removal of extraordinary treatment and palliative sedation. Conclusion: Public support for the end-of-care decisions discussed in this paper in Malta has seen an increase throughout the years, similar to what is seen in other Western countries. More public education about possibilities ought to be considered.

The debate on the right of choice in cases of euthanasia and cryonics continues unabated. The Court's in USA, UK and India have discussed on these issues but, have not come up with concrete findings on the same. Both these issues involve questions of the choice of life & death. In the case of RE JS Disposal, the judge of the UK High Court (Family Division) has perhaps shown a way out by respecting the choice of a 14 years girl and allowing her body to be cryonically preserved. With regard to euthanasia the options given by the courts are often conflicting. While the choice of active euthanasia has not been accepted but, passive euthanasia has been permitted in Indian Supreme Court in the case of Aruna Shanbaug. As science and technology progresses questions related to euthanasia and cryonics will be raised again and again. There is need for concretization of the policy relating to respecting to choices made by people as to how their bodies ought to be treated during the life and after the death.. In this paper, paradox of truth of death as well as faith in life in the interplay of cryonics and euthanasia in the choices people make and the policies and law State adopts, has been examined, in the light of contemporary developments.

Attempts to legalize assisted suicide has historically presented a unique set of political and procedural challenges in state legislatures, the result of which has been the overwhelming defeat of nearly 98% such attempts in the last 25 years. Only in recent years is this trend beginning to change. Vermont was the first state to adopt legislation in 2013, followed by California, and Washington DC in 2015. In 2018, Hawaii was added to the list and most recently, New Jersey, and Maine in 2019. Other trends have become evident as well. Whereas between 1995 and 2013 there was a median of nine bills introduced by six states in a given biennium, this has increased to 31 bills in 24 states between 2015 and 2019, And while until 2013, only two or three states at most would have more than a single bill in play, the median has now doubled to five states and Washington DC since 2015. This paper examines whether or not these recent trends are in fact, political strategies that could explain
and potentially predict success in future sessions. We examine the efficacy of constancy (the perseverance of introducing bills over multiple sessions) and frequency (introducing multiple bills in the same session) using both the six successful attempts as well as 264 failed attempts since 1994. Comparing the common attributes of successful legalization as well as failures, perseverance cannot be ruled out as a beneficial
variable, but can only be vindicated with more data in the future. There was no evidence across all the data to suggest that multiple bills contributed to success. The data also shows that ideological liberalism is currently a necessary but not sufficient condition to pass assisted suicide bills, although it is expected to become more significant
as the issue settles down party lines. Increases in the number of bills, the number states with bills, and perhaps the number of bills introduced in a given state appears more as a response to environmental stimuli that makes bills appear more viable: namely previous state victories and shifts in public opinion.