Legal basis and the living will

Understanding your rights is an essential step in making informed decisions at the end of life. This page provides an overview of the laws in effect, including those related to euthanasia and assisted suicide, as well as advance directives. Our goal is to provide you with clear and accessible information so that you can approach these subjects with peace of mind and confidence.

The law on euthanasia and assisted suicide

La loi sur l’euthanasie et l’assistance au suicide

Euthanasia: it is a medical intervention by which a doctor purposefully ends the life of another person at his or her express and voluntary request.

Assisted suicide: a doctor purposefully helps another person commit suicide or provides another person with the necessary means to that end, at his or her express and voluntary request.

That is induce death or help induce death to a person suffering from an incurable illness in order to shorten his or her suffering and the length of his or her agony.

Simplified law on palliative care

Palliative care shall be accessible to any person at an advanced or terminal stage of a serious and incurable condition, whichever maybe the cause of it.

Palliative care is active care provided to a person at the end of life.

This care respects the dignity and the choices of the person at the end of life. It is delivered in an active, continuous and coordinated fashion by a cross-disciplinary team: doctors, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists, physiotherapist …

The aim of palliative care is:

relieve pain and other inconvenient symptoms
integrate psychological and spiritual aspects to the treatment
offer a support system to help families and relatives deal with the illness
manage to improve the quality of life for the person at the end of life, as well as for their relatives

Commission Nationale de Contrôle et d'Evaluation

The role of the Commission Nationale de Contrôle et d’Evaluation of the law of 16 March 2009 on euthanasia and assistance to suicide is to be the guarantor of the enforcement of the law on euthanasia.

It draws up the registration forms to be filled in by doctors each time they have implemented euthanasia, in order to be able to examine them and verify that euthanasia has been conducted in accordance with the conditions and procedure provided for by the law.

The Commission Nationale de Contrôle et d’Évaluation also makes a report on the implementation of the law to the Chamber of Deputies every two years. It may also express recommendations.

Last, the Commission Nationale de Contrôle et d’Évaluation systematically carries out the registration of End-of-Life Provisions. It informs doctors who take charge of a patient at the end of life if End-of-Life Provisions have been registered and grants them access to those when they exist.

End-of-Life Provisions, as well as any modification, are mandatorily to be sent and registered by:

Commission Nationale de Contrôle et d’Évaluation sur l’euthanasie
p/a Ministère de la Santé
L-2935 Luxembourg

+352 247-85626

Brochure: my will at the end of life

This brochure gives you the opportunity to write your end-of-life choice, with the advance directive section, as well as the end-of-life provisions.

Through the advance directive, you designate a person of trust and your will at the end of life.

You keep the original at home and give a copy to your trusted person.

The advance directive is not registered with the Ministry of Health.

End-of-Life Provisions are a request for euthanasia that is made in anticipation of a situation later in life where one find himself or herself irreversibly unconscious according to the current state of science and suffering from a serious and incurable accidental or pathological condition.

It is preferable that one draws up his or her End-of-Life Provisions while one is still legally capable and in good health.

A sudden accident or disease might put you in a situation of dependence, such as for instance prolonged unconsciousness, by which you can no longer manifest your will. If you do not manifest your will in writing beforehand, you run the risk of having others deciding instead of you.

Your arrangements must be recorded in writing, dated and signed by yourself.

It is a document included in the blue section of the brochure “My will at the end of life”
You can also download it directly at the bottom of this page!
• On the first page you will write your family name and first name, your date and place of birth as well as your National registration number (matricula national)
You may also indicate details about the situation where you would choose to undergo euthanasia.

• On the second page of this official document, you will write optional information such as the person of trust or your choice of burial method.

You will have therefore the opportunity to register a person of trust by writing his or her personal data. It is that person who will see to it that your arrangements are respected in case you might be irreversibly unconscious like in a coma or in a state of physical deficiency where you cannot manifest your will.

It is important to chose well the person of trust, to inform him or her about your choice in advance and talk to him or her about your will and wishes.

It is of prime importance that you inform your treating doctor about your will and ask him or her whether they consent to help you if the case arises. Otherwise, you yourself or your person of trust will have to find a doctor who is favourably disposed and who will respect your choice later on.

Once the End-of-Life Provisions are completed:

Have several copies of the signed document made.
Give a copy to your life partner, a member of your family, person of trust.
Deliver a copy to your family doctor or treating doctor and talk to him or her about any concerns you might have in relation to the end of life.
In case of hospitalization, provide a copy at admission to the hospital with a request for it to be put in your medical file.
And most importantly, send the original to La Commission Nationale de Contrôle et d’Evaluation sur l’Euthanasie et l’assistance au suicide

Registration of the end of life provisions

End-of-Life Provisions must be sent to the following address in order for them to be valid:

Commission Nationale de Contrôle et d’Evaluation sur l’Euthanasie et l’assistance au suicide
p/a Ministère de la Santé L-2935 Luxembourg

Registration by La Commission Nationale de Contrôle is mandatory.
After about a month, the Commission will send you a letter to certify the registration of your arrangements.

5 years after the first registration the CNCE will ask you by mail if you are still in agreement with your request.

If you do not reply, your arrangements will remain valid for the rest of the life (automatic renewal).

Important to know: Arrangements may be reiterated, withdrawn or modified at any moment!

Also when for example there is a change in your address or phone number or those of your person of trust.
Thank you for informing the secretary of the Commission about that as soon as possible by phone at: 2478-5626

Demande d’euthanasie et d’assistance au suicide

The request for euthanasia an assisted suicide

In order for your request for euthanasia or for assistance to suicide to be legal in Luxembourg, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

You must be conscious at the time of the request.
You must be a legally capable adult, that is not having been declared in court unable to make your own decisions.
You must have made your decision without any external pressure.
You must be in a medical condition without any prospect, without any improvement perspective, following an accident or pathology, and it is an irreversible situation according to the current state of science.
You must suffer physically or mentally from your health condition.
Your request must be recorded in writing, carry your details and be dated and signed.
You may at any moment cancel your request. It will be then withdrawn from your medical file and you can get it back.