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A year and a half after Slovenians overwhelmingly supported the legalization of euthanasia in a referendum, parliament has adopted a law that allows for the ending of life when medical treatments do not help in the recovery or improvement of a patient’s serious condition.
This makes Slovenia the fifth country in Europe, and the only one among the former Yugoslav republics, where patients whose “health condition is unbearable” have the right to end their lives.
In order for euthanasia to be approved, all medical treatment options must first be exhausted, the adopted law states.
The right to euthanasia cannot be used in cases where the patient’s condition is unbearable and is a consequence of mental illness,
Before Slovenia, such a law was passed in Europe by Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and in the world, euthanasia was legalized in Canada and Colombia.
In Serbia, such a law is still at the proposal level.
On July 18, the law on the legalization of euthanasia was supported by 50 members of the Slovenian parliament, 34 were against, while three abstained.
It stipulates that the right to euthanasia can be applied when medical treatments do not help in recovery or do not improve the very serious condition of patients.
“It would be wrong for medicine to deprive people of the right to die if they want to and if it cannot help them,” she stated Tereza Novak from the ruling Movement for Freedom, which supported the bill.
The conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), on the other hand, claims that this “opens the door to a culture of death, that human dignity is lost and that the value of life, especially of the most vulnerable, is diminished.”
Caregiver assistance in dying at the request of patients is not permitted by law, although it is more of 55 people supported the right to assisted dying in the 2024 referendum.
This right was legally regulated in 2024 in the United Kingdom, and the same regulation was previously adopted in Switzerland and Austria.
The French delegates are in May 2025. voted to allow certain patients in the advanced stages of terminal illnesses to receive assistance in dying.
A controversial issue
Legalizing euthanasia remains one of the most controversial legal topics around the world.
Only a few countries have legally regulated this issue.
In 2019, the Italian Supreme Court ruled that euthanasia is not a criminal offense if a patient wants to end their life due to unbearable suffering.
In Serbia, the law provides for a sentence of six months to five years in prison for those who, at their serious and explicit request, compassionately deprive seriously ill adults of their lives.
“In Serbian regulations, there is no possibility for any form of euthanasia to be accepted, because it is treated as a criminal offense,” Marina Mijatović, a medical law expert, previously explained to BBC Serbian.
Ten years ago, a draft Civil Code was presented in Serbia, which provided for the right to a dignified death.
“The right to euthanasia, as the right of a natural person to a consenting, voluntary and dignified termination of life, can exceptionally be realized if the prescribed humane, psychosocial and medical conditions are met.” it is written in the document.
However, opinions were divided and the adoption of the law was opposed by members of the Medical Chamber and the Serbian Medical Society, stating that euthanasia is unethical and violates the Hippocratic Oath.
Against legalization of euthanasia and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC).
And in neighboring Croatia A sentence of up to three years in prison is provided for those who assist seriously ill people in taking their lives.
What is euthanasia?
The term was first used in the 17th century.
Francis Bacon, a British philosopher, used the term to describe an easy, happy death, where “the physician is responsible to alleviate bodily suffering.”
Since two types of euthanasia: active and passive.
During active, Trained and licensed people give patients a certain substance to make them die, and he voluntarily requests this procedure in advance.
Passive euthanasia is applied when a doctor or family members decide to turn off the machines that keep a patient alive or to stop the administration of water, infusion or therapy.
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