Call to legalise euthanasia in Spain

Call to legalise euthanasia in Spain

PETITIONS totalling a million signatures demanding the legalisation of euthanasia have been handed over to the Spanish Congress.

In one, more than 600,000 people signed a petition on Change.org started by a doctor named Marcos Hourmann. In this he asked for charges against a man who was arrested after helping his terminally ill wife die to be dropped. The man had also made a video of his wife’s last moments, which made international headlines.

Ángel Hernández gave his wife, María José Carrasco who suffered from advanced multiple sclerosis,  a drink laced with a deadly substance after asking her to confirm it was what she wanted.

In a second petition, also on Change.org, Txema Lorente, collected more than 374,000 signatures. He had promised to help his Alzheimer’s suffering wife die when she could no longer recognise her family, but found himself unable to do so because of the law.

Another 99,000 people signed a petition raised by María Asunción Gómez, widow of Luis de Marcos, also asking for reform to legalise euthanasia.