The first case of "euthanasia" in China

Guide

"The freedom to contain life is not really freedom, and the life that contains freedom is not real life." This is a dialogue from the 77th Academy Awards in 2005 for Best Foreign Language Film "Deep Sleep". At the age of twenty-six, Raymond was paralyzed from the neck down due to a beach diving accident. After a long period of suffering, the fifty-year-old Raymond began to file a lawsuit to ask the Spanish government to allow him to commit suicide by others, but everything never happened. A few years later, Raymond finally committed suicide by taking poison with the assistance of a person whose identity could not be identified. At that time, the Spanish police immediately arrested Raymond's 22-year-old girlfriend, but the following week more than 3,000 people in the small town where Raymond lived began to "turn themselves in" and admitted to assisting Raymond to commit suicide.

Case replay

Case 1: Takako helped her mother commit suicide, constituting intentional homicide

Deng is a migrant worker from Sichuan. At about 14:00 on May 16, 2011, Deng Mou, who rented a house in Shiqi Town, Panyu District, reported to the Shiqi police station, saying that his mother Li mou died naturally in the rental house. However, the police autopsy found that it was poisoned and died, and later, Deng admitted that he was asked by his mother to buy pesticides to help him euthanize. It is understood that Deng also has two older sisters and a younger brother, but for a long time, the mother has been taken care of by Deng. In 1991, shortly after Deng Mou got married, his mother suffered a stroke and was paralyzed, and then slowly recovered under the care of Deng Mou... In order to supplement the family, more than ten years ago, Deng and his wife successively came to Guangzhou to work and sent money home every month to treat their mother.com. In 2010, Deng's father died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage, and Deng returned to his hometown to personally carry his mother to Guangzhou and take care of him.

"I often watch him carry his mother to the hospital, and without this son she (mother) can't live for so many years." Aunt Hou and the Deng family are neighbors in their hometown and Guangzhou, and they see Deng's diligence and filial piety for more than 10 years. His wife, Hua Suying, also said that her mother had cramps many times a day, and often woke up in the middle of the night, so Deng got up to give her a massage. Neighbors near his rental house know that his mother's three meals a day, bathing, combing her hair, etc., are almost all taken care of by Deng Mou.

The procuratorial organ believes that Deng's behavior has constituted intentional homicide, and in view of his truthful confession of his crime, he can be given a lighter punishment according to law, and recommends that the sentence be three years' imprisonment and a suspended sentence. Finally, the court, combined with the opinions of the public prosecution organ and the defender, held that Deng constituted the crime of intentional homicide, but Deng's criminal motive was generated under the pressure of his mother's request and life, the subjective malignancy was relatively small, he voluntarily confessed guilt, and had letters of intercession from relatives, friends and workers, proving that he fulfilled his obligation to take care of his mother, the circumstances of the crime were relatively minor, and he could truthfully confess his crime, and he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and a suspended sentence.

Case 2: The husband helps his wife commit suicide, constituting intentional homicide

Cheng and Ke married, after Which Ke was diagnosed with rheumatism by the hospital, and in 2000, Ke was paralyzed by this disease. Unable to endure the torment of long-term illness and the heavy financial burden on the family, Ke repeatedly asked Cheng to drink pesticides for himself to commit suicide, but he was refused. On May 30, 2008, Ke once again proposed to Cheng to let her drink pesticides to commit suicide, and Cheng agreed to his wife's request and purchased a bottle of pesticides to store at home on the same day. On the evening of June 2, Ke and Cheng agreed that Cheng would give her pesticides to drink the next morning. At about 6 o'clock the next morning, Cheng poured the prepared pesticide into an empty milk carton, inserted the straw, placed the straw next to Ke's pillow, and then went to the Benwan pond alone to wash clothes. In the process of taking pesticides for the first time, Ke accidentally got the milk carton to the ground, so he asked his daughter to call Cheng back, and after Cheng returned home, he put the straw next to her pillow at Ke's request and returned to the pond to continue washing clothes. Ke then committed suicide by drinking pesticides, and was sent to the hospital for rescue and died. Hou Cheng was indicted for intentional homicide.

Legal provisions

Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 232:[Intentional Homicide] Whoever intentionally commits homicide shall be sentenced to death, life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years; Intentional homicide refers to the intentional and illegal deprivation of another person's life. It is a crime of violating the democratic rights of citizens. It is one of the few most heinous crimes in China's criminal law.

Attorney's Summary

The crime of intentional homicide is committed, and as long as the perpetrator commits intentional homicide, it constitutes intentional homicide. Since the right to life is the most basic and important right of citizens' personal rights, regardless of whether the victim was actually killed or not, no matter what stage the act of homicide is in the preparation, attempt, or suspension of the intentional crime, it constitutes a crime and should be filed and prosecuted.

Case 1 is because the family can't bear to see the mother being tortured by the disease, in order to help the mother to "liberate" as soon as possible, to help the mother commit suicide, although out of the motive of alleviating the pain of the mother, there is still an objective violation of the real harm of the right to life, which is the crime of intentional homicide.

Case 2, Cheng and Ke are husband and wife, with the legal obligation to support each other, Cheng knows that Ke wants to commit suicide, Cheng should and can prevent Ke from committing suicide, but Cheng did not perform his statutory obligations, and ultimately caused the harmful result of Ke's death, Cheng belongs to the crime of intentional homicide by inaction.

Similar to helping others commit suicide, there is also whether it is a crime to help others euthanize. The so-called euthanasia usually refers to the pain of patients who suffer from incurable diseases and are on the verge of death, and are entrusted by patients to die painlessly. Euthanasia is divided into euthanasia of inaction and euthanasia of acting. Euthanasia by inaction (passive euthanasia) refers to euthanasia in which a patient who is on the verge of death is promised not to take therapeutic measures (including the removal of artificial life support devices) and allow him to die.

Only a few countries in the world have deciminated active euthanasia. The mainland is opposed to euthanasia. But "euthanasia" is not only an ethical and medical issue, but also a legal issue. How can we prevent outlaws from murdering patients in the name of "euthanasia"? Once "euthanasia" is banned, it is likely to lead to the abuse of "euthanasia"? Patients who lose consciousness can be legally deprived of their lives, but it is extremely difficult to confirm their will in judicial practice. It is more likely that extreme cases will be used to cover up the fact of homicide with euthanasia, completely against the will of the patient! This is the most worrying.

Lawyer tips

At present, assisting others to commit suicide, regardless of the purpose, generally constitutes the crime of intentional homicide. Although euthanasia is recognized by many countries, it has not yet obtained legal status in the mainland, and according to the current criminal law interpretation, according to the principle of strict criminal law, euthanasia has violated article 232 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China and is suspected of intentional homicide.

In the context of the current mainland law, what seems like humane "euthanasia" has touched the bottom line of the criminal law, and any person who has an incurable disease, a dying person or his relatives should still be punished as intentional homicide at the request of a person who has suffered an incurable disease, a person on the verge of death, or a relative who dies painlessly in order to relieve him of the extreme suffering he has suffered. Of course, the limited and scoped abandonment of life is not completely prohibited in the mainland, and the abandonment of life within the scope of the law in medicine is not completely non-existent, its name is "giving up rescue".