Although demands for painless deaths are increasing, mercy killings are still a long way from becoming legal in China, officials and experts said.

Since the beginning of April when the Netherlands passed the world’s first bill to allow mercy killings, more and more people in China have appealed for it to be allowed here.

But no new laws or regulations have been issued to let doctors carry out mercy killings. And, according to the present Criminal Law of China, even if a patient has agreed, people who help them die would have to take criminal responsibility for the death.

However, the debate about euthanasia has become a hot topic in the country. In Xi’an, capital city of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, nine patients who could not bear the pain brought on by uraemia, a blood disease, jointly appealed to be allowed to die recently, but no doctor dared help them.

A survey held by a local newspaper in various districts of Beijing found about two-thirds of people thought euthanasia should be allowed.

Since 1992, the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislative body, has received a number of motions calling for such a law every year.

Supporters of euthanasia believe that a painless death not only stops mental and physical pain suffered by patients, but can also reduce the mental and economic burdens experienced by relatives.

Mercy killings could also save the country’s limited medical resources, according to Hu Yamei, who has handed in motions calling for an euthanasia law on several occasions.

But the Ministry of Health said the country is not considering drafting such a law, according to an official from the ministry’s legislation and supervision department.

The official said that a law must represent the will of the majority of a country’s population, but it has not been proved that that is what they want.

Many law experts also take a prudent attitude towards euthanasia. It is not the right time to approve mercy killings, which is in conflict with Chinese traditional moral principles and ethics, said Chen Zexian, a law expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Many Chinese people regard mercy killings as helping patients commit suicide.

(China Daily 05/10/2001)