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Spain on the verge of legalizing euthanasia

2021-03-18T03:34:34.233Z


The future law authorizes both euthanasia - that is to say when the caregiver causes the death of the patient - and medically assisted suicide - when the patient himself takes the prescribed dose.


The Spanish parliament must definitively approve the legalization of euthanasia on Thursday March 18, making Spain one of the few countries in the world allowing a patient with an incurable disease to die to end his suffering.

A priority for the left-wing government of Pedro Sanchez, the adoption of this law, which is due to come into force in June, comes after several emblematic cases in the country in recent decades, including that of Ramon Sampedro, a quadriplegic embodied on the screen. by Javier Bardem in the Oscar-winning film

Mar Adentro

.

It is a victory

"for the people who will be able to benefit from it"

, and also

"for Ramon"

, welcomed to AFP Ramona Maneiro, the friend of Ramon Sampedro who helped him die in 1998. Arrested for a few days, she had not been tried for lack of evidence.

Spain will thus become the fourth European country to have decriminalized medically assisted death after the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The Portuguese parliament also adopted a law at the end of January decriminalizing euthanasia, but the Constitutional Court on Monday rejected the text, which will be referred to the deputies.

In Latin America, only Colombia allows euthanasia.

In Spain, the future law, which must be approved with the voices of the left and the center, authorizes both euthanasia - that is to say when the caregiver causes the death of the patient - and medically assisted suicide - when the patient himself takes the prescribed dose.

Other countries tolerate the latter solution, as well as passive euthanasia, that is to say the interruption of medical treatment.

The Spanish text provides that anyone with

"a serious and incurable disease"

or

"chronic

pain

placing them in a situation of incapacity"

can request the help of the medical profession to die and thus avoid

"intolerable suffering"

.

Strict conditions frame the process: the person, Spanish or resident in the country, must therefore be "

capable and aware"

when making the request, which must be formulated in writing

"without external pressure"

and renewed fifteen days later.

The doctor can always reject this request if he considers that these criteria are not met.

In addition, it must be approved by another doctor and receive the green light from an evaluation committee.

Any health professional can finally assert

“his conscientious objection”

and refuse to participate in the procedure, which is paid for by the public health system.

The future legalization of euthanasia has been welcomed by organizations defending the right to die with dignity and patients who may be concerned.

"It does not make sense that people (...) have an unworthy life"

, told AFP Sofia Malagon, a 60-year-old Colombian with Parkinson's disease, who does not want to become

" a vegetable ”

.

The Catholic Church as well as the right and the extreme right, which will vote against, are on the other hand upright against this reform whose application also raises the questioning of certain doctors.

Euthanasia

"is always a form of homicide"

, and

"rather than defending life"

, the State

"becomes responsible for the death inflicted"

, denounced the Spanish Episcopal Conference.

Vice-president of the Order of Physicians, Manuel Garcia Romero does not hide his doubts about the implementation of the law and emphasizes that a "doctor wants no one to die.

It's in his DNA ”.

Since the mid-1980s, when euthanasia first appeared in public debate in Spain, several high-profile cases have hit the headlines.

In addition to the case of Ramon Sampedro, that of Luis Montes, an anesthetist accused of having killed 73 terminally ill patients, also caused a lot of ink to flow until his case was closed by justice. 2007. Most recently, in 2019, Angel Hernandez was arrested for helping his wife, who has multiple sclerosis, to die.

He is waiting to be judged.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-03-18

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