Regulating euthanasia : what should be the minimum age for consent?

Abstract

If the Maltese parliament or the Maltese people by means of a referendum, ever decide that euthanasia should be legalised in Malta, parliament would then have to decide how the issue is going to be regulated. One of the issues that parliament would have to decide on is, what should the minimum age for consent be, if in fact there should even be any age restrictions. This dissertation takes a look at the foreign jurisdictions were euthanasia is legalised, and what, if any, are the age restrictions in those said countries. Having a knowledge of what the age limits in these jurisdictions are would be beneficial for the Maltese legislator, if it is ever decided that euthanasia should be legalised and regulated in Malta, in order to decide whether or not to follow a particular model or to legislate it differently than it is legislated abroad. This dissertation also looks at what academic scholars believe should be the ideal age limit for one to attain in order to be eligible to consent to euthanasia. After observing the comparative aspect of the issue and exploring the different arguments on the issue, as well as taking into consideration Malta’s own laws on capacity to consent, it was concluded that Malta should afford the right to euthanasia to minors. However ideally, there should still be some sort of age restriction in place. If euthanasia were ever to be legalised and regulated in Malta, it should be afforded to anyone who is at least sixteen years old, and satisfies the other criteria that would be stipulated in the law.