Physician Assisted Suicide: From Foundations of Criminalization to Penal Reaction

Abstract One of the most important and controversial issues in medical law is “Physician Assisted Suicide” that during the recent decades, it has been a challenging issue among the jurists, criminologists, doctors and even the patients themselves, as a part of the vulnerable population of society. This subject has had its own supporters and opponents. Core of these disputes is the “Right to Die” for the patients. From the perspective of criminal law doctrines, there is a significant difference between the Euthanasia and the above mentioned subject, from the view of doctor’s direct or indirect participation in the patient’s death; which means that doctor is involved in euthanasia directly and provides assistance in the physician assisted suicide. In other words, in direct participation, “doctor” does the actus reus of murder, but in indirect participation, she only helps the “patient” to kill himself. In criminal policy of Iran, suicide is not permissible under the influence of religious and juridical doctrines, but has not been criminalized, and therefore it concluded that assistance in suicide should not be considered criminal. Nevertheless, the legislator of Iran has criminalized aiding and facilitating suicide through the computer systems, telecommunication systems or data carriers, as an independent crime. This article has criticized and analyzed the foundations of criminalization of this issue, as well as, the methods of penal reaction of Iranian legal system toward this problem; and finally has proposed that criminalization of “Physician Assisted Suicide” as an independent crime in order to respect human life and prevent deviant act of suicide.