Dutch Lawmakers Approve Liberal Euthanasia Law

After weeks of debate, Parliament’s upper house narrowly approved legislation Tuesday that will give the Dutch the industrialized world’s most liberal euthanasia policy.

While it does not formally legalize mercy killing, the legislation sets a reporting requirement and guidelines that will virtually guarantee physicians immunity from prosecution if followed.

The bill, which was approved by the lower house in February, cleared its last legislative hurdle 37-34. Four members of the upper house did not vote.

The measure was expected to go to Queen Beatrix for signing within 24 hours and will become law after it is signed by the justice minister.

Under the rules, no legal action will be taken against a physician who assists a patient in dying when the patient suffers from unbearable pain and repeatedly and lucidly requests death. Euthanasia will still be subject to prosecution in cases without an explicit request for death, such as the comatose and deformed newborns.

The offense carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison. But euthanasia has gained informal respectability in the Netherlands over the last decade, and no one has been jailed for the offense.