Luxembourg has become the third European country, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to legalise euthanasia in certain cases. The new legislation, which is accompanied by a parallel text on palliative care, will enter into force on 1 April.

The law stipulates that doctors who carry out euthanasia and assisted suicides will not face "penal sanctions" or civil lawsuits as long as they first consult a colleague to ensure that the patient has a terminal illness, is in a "grave and incurable condition," and has repeatedly asked for the right to die.

Within eight days of helping a patient to end his or her life, the doctor must fill out a questionnaire and submit it to a national committee of nine members, who will verify whether the various procedures were correctly followed.

Unlike the Netherlands, which formally approved euthanasia in 2001, and Belgium, which did so a year later, in Luxembourg . . . [Full text of this article]