A law permitting assisted suicide has come into force in Austria in spite of the Catholic bishops warning the nation that it will help to create an era in which “every handicap or disease is seen as a failure that cannot be tolerated”.
From New Year’s Day, the law licences doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to either terminally ill adults or those with a permanent debilitating condition who request them to take their own lives.
At present, children and people suffering from mental health problems will not be considered eligible.
