In 1976, the state of California enacted the Natural Death Act, America's first right-to-die statute, and many other advanced countries also have similar laws. Chen Liang-chuan, executive director of the Catholic Sanipax Medico-Social Educational Foundation, says that Taiwan has started late on the road to promoting palliative care, but the legislation is nonetheless pioneering in Asia.
美國加州早在一九七六年就已訂定「自然死法案」，許多先進國家也都有類似的法律，康泰醫療教育基金會執行長陳良娟指出，我國推動安寧療護的起步較晚，但立法在亞洲仍屬超前。