Reviewed by ThaiLawOnline, a licensed Thai law firm practising in Thailand since 2006. Thai lawyer of record: Wichuda Atthamethakon, LL.M., Thai Bar Licence 3149/2556.
Last updated on September 5, 2026
Euthanasia (การุณยฆาต, karunyakhat, sometimes written mercy killing or assisted dying) is the deliberate ending of a patient’s life to relieve suffering. Thai law draws a sharp line. Active euthanasia, where a doctor or relative administers something to cause death, is a crime whatever the patient asked for. Passive euthanasia, where a terminally ill patient refuses treatment that would only prolong dying, is a recognised right under Section 12 of the National Health Act B.E. 2550 (2007), exercised through a living will. Foreigners who retire in Thailand and hospitals treating them need to know where that line falls.
Table of Contents
What the Criminal Code and the Health Act say
Active euthanasia. Killing another person is murder under Section 288 of the Criminal Code, punishable by 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment, life imprisonment or death, and the victim’s consent is not a defence. A lethal injection given at a dying patient’s request is still a killing. The Code also punishes causing or assisting a suicide in the situations covered by Sections 292 and 293, such as a person under one’s care or a child. No Thai statute creates an exception for doctors, and no bill legalising assisted dying has been passed.
Passive euthanasia. Section 12 of the National Health Act gives a person the right to make a written declaration refusing health services that serve only to prolong death in the terminal stage of illness, or to end severe suffering from illness. A practitioner who follows that declaration commits no offence. The Ministerial Regulation of 2010, in force from 20 May 2011, sets out the form and procedure, and the Supreme Administrative Court upheld it in 2015. Stopping a ventilator or withholding resuscitation under a valid living will is therefore lawful; giving a drug to cause death is not.
Practical points for foreigners and their families
The instrument that matters is the living will, a declaration by an adult of sound mind refusing named treatments in the terminal phase: resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, tube feeding, dialysis. It should be written in Thai or bilingual Thai and English, dated, signed and witnessed by at least one person with no interest in the estate, and copies given to the treating hospital and the family. No notarisation or government registration is required. A living will signed abroad under another country’s law is usually not accepted by Thai hospitals; a Thai-compliant one is.
Families sometimes ask a hospital, or a doctor privately, to “help things along”. Any doctor who does so faces a murder charge, and a relative who does so faces the same. What a family can lawfully do is present the living will, ask for palliative care and pain relief, and ask that treatment which cannot cure be stopped. Large private hospitals in Bangkok accept advance directives but often want a second medical opinion confirming the terminal diagnosis before acting on one.
Where the line falls in practice
| Act | Legal position in Thailand | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Lethal injection or overdose given to a patient | Murder, consent irrelevant | Criminal Code Section 288 |
| Supplying means for a patient to end their own life | Offence in the cases the Code describes | Criminal Code Sections 292 and 293 |
| Withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging treatment on a valid living will | Lawful | National Health Act Section 12 |
| Pain relief and palliative sedation for comfort | Lawful medical treatment | Ordinary medical practice |
The difference is between letting an illness take its course and causing death. A living will cannot ask for anything in the first two rows; a clause asking for a lethal dose is simply void and can make a hospital wary of the whole document. It can ask for everything in the last two, and it can appoint a person to speak for the patient, a role recognised in the National Health Commission’s 2020 notification on surrogate decision makers.
Frequently asked questions
Is euthanasia legal in Thailand?
Active euthanasia is not. Deliberately ending a patient’s life, even at their request, is murder under Section 288 of the Criminal Code. What Thai law allows is refusing life-prolonging treatment in the terminal stage through a living will under Section 12 of the National Health Act.
Can a foreigner make a living will in Thailand?
Yes. Any person aged 18 or over with capacity can make one. It should follow the Thai form, in Thai or bilingual, with at least one disinterested witness, and be given to the hospital. A living will made abroad under foreign law is usually not honoured by Thai hospitals.
Can a doctor in Thailand be prosecuted for switching off life support?
Not if the patient made a valid living will refusing that treatment. Section 12 of the National Health Act states that a practitioner who complies with the declaration commits no offence, and the 2010 regulation setting the procedure was upheld by the Supreme Administrative Court in 2015.
See also: terminal illness, palliative care, will, and the guides on the living will in Thailand and the 2010 living will regulation.
Thai Law Updates, free by email
Plain-English updates on Thai law changes that affect foreigners: property, visas, marriage, business and wills. One short email a month from a firm practicing since 2006. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.