Japan has come up with a series of guidelines regulating euthanasia which does nothing but further confuse an already confusing issue. The International Right to Life’s Weekly Review reports that in late March, the Yokohama District Court determined that euthanasia would be legally permissible “where a patient suffers unbearable physical pain, all measures to eliminate pain have been exhausted, death is inevitable and imminent, and the patient has given clear consent to end his life.” If a patient cannot communicate these wishes, a family member can step in. However, a doctor who killed a 58-year-old man who was suffering from terminal cancer but had not given his consent was given a slap on the wrist in the form of a two year suspended sentence. This law has the potential to lead to a situation where euthanasia will be permissible if the patient gives his consent – and that the other conditions will be ignored.
