With the Grand-Duchy’ s law on “Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide” being in place for one year now, little is to be reported on the subject. except that the secretariat of ADMD-L receives a lot of letters and calls from people outside the country hoping to be able to come and “die” in Luxembourg.

Although nothing in the law stipulates conditions of nationality or residence forf the person receiving euthanasia, it is however clear that this can only take place after an extensive consultation and treatment with a Luxembourg-registered doctor who – in consultation with a second doctor – will come to the conclusion, that the conditions are correct to allow for ending the patient’s life. – Moreover, the candidate must have registered his “dispositions de fin de vie” (living will) with the “Commission de Contrôle”, before even applying for euthanasia. This makes it extremely difficult for a person outside the Grand-Duchy to receive this help.

Although we are aware that there are doctors and hospitals who will allow for euthanasia, there is no list of names of either known to us, and the subject is still treated with great discretion. ADMD-L will also keep a very low profile on the subject in order not to provoke unnecessary clashes with opposing politics and institutions in the country.

Indeed, a patient in the terminal phase of cancer and already granted euthanasia help to die, but was denied his wishes by the management of the hospital, was euthanized shortly later, after Jean Huss, co-author of the euthanasia law and president of admd-l, had put a parliamentary question on this incident to the Minister of Health. The answer to this is that a hospital that does not respect the law could be penalized financially.
The official report of the Commission de Contrôle” in a year’s time will reveal how many euthanasias have indeed taken place and under what circumstances. In the meantime, admd-l concentrates on consulting people on the correct procedure of registering their End-of-Live Dispositions and requests for euthanasia besides keeping a watchful eye on the correct application of the law.