Four newly established legal requisites for active euthanasia in Japan

On March 28, 1995 at the Yokohama District Court in Japan, four legal requisites for active euthanasia were newly established by the chief judge, when he rendered the judgment on the murder case of a physician, Tokunaga. The case has been reported by the news media as a so-called euthanasia. In order to make the legal distinction between murder and euthanasia for this case, the 1962 six legal requisites for euthanasia established 33 years ago at the Nagoya High Court in Japan were revised into the four new legal requisites. The judgment was influenced by the current international situation and Japanese sentiment concerning euthanasia.