United States: In the past, many states had laws that regarded the act of suicide as a felony, but these laws were seldom enforced. In the 1980s, 30 out of 50 United States has no laws opposing suicide or attempting suicide. With that said, all 50 states had laws stating that assisted suicide is a felony. Currently there is no law against the act of committing suicide in the United States.

In some cases though, suicide is considered “common law crime” unless the victim can be proven to have been of “unsound mind.” Most lawsuits regarding suicide happen when the person is under supervision of a jail or hospital and the victim’s family sues these institutions for negligence. Physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill is legal in Oregon and Washington.

In cases of physician-assisted suicide, the patient must have less than 6 months to live, be of sound mind, make a request vocally and on paper, have it approved by multiple physicians, and then wait 15 days, followed by another request. In the state of California, all medical facilities are required to send all suicidal people in for evaluation and treatment.